Department for Transport

Heathrow Airport: Road Traffic

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the number of vehicles using (a) the M4, (b) the M25, (c) the A4 and (d) the local road network to access Heathrow airport in each of the last two years.

Jesse Norman: As part of the Department’s National Statistics series on Road Traffic, the Department produces annual estimates of the average daily flow of vehicles on the major roads near Heathrow airport. The Department does not know the destination of these vehicles.The table below provides a breakdown of vehicle flow estimates on sections of (a) the M4, (b) the M25 and (c) the A4 close to Heathrow airport for 2016 and 2017 – the latest years available. Average Daily Flow Estimates of motor vehicles on the M4, M25, and A4 near Heathrow Terminals – 2016 and 2017 For terminals 2 & 3 Average Daily FlowRoad link by directionTraffic count-point ID20162017M4 westbound - before junction 4CP 601373,42170,077M4 eastbound - before junction 4CP 1601272,49874,388M25 southbound - before junction 15CP 790297,584101,256M25 northbound - before junction 15CP 27923105,827103,287A4 eastbound - before T2&3CP 5611410,45110,406A4 westbound - before T2&3CP 161126,8077,977For terminals 4 & 5 Average Daily FlowRoad link by directionTraffic count-point ID20162017M4 westbound - before junction 4bCP 1601274,34479,547M4 eastbound - before junction 4bCP 4858275,07672,544M25 northbound - before junction 14CP 47876104,52597,377M25 southbound - before junction 15CP 27923108,635107,772 Vehicle counts are collected at a sample of locations on (d) the local road network. These can be accessed via the Department’s interactive map here:https://roadtraffic.dft.gov.uk/manualcountpoints Contextual information can be found on the data.gov.uk website here:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/road-traffic-statistics

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2018 to Question 196822 on High Speed 2 Railway Line, what steps he has taken to act on the representations made by constituents of Hampstead and Kilburn on settlement damage to buildings along the High Speed Two tunnel route.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Department and HS2 Ltd take very seriously any concerns raised by residents affected by the construction of HS2 and would respond to any formal representations on this issue in an appropriate way. HS2 Ltd are engaging with local residents on issues around construction and will continue to do so. Safeguards for residents were set out as part of the Parliamentary process for the High Speed Rail (London to West Midlands) Act 2017. The Information Paper on Ground Settlement (Information Paper C3) sets out the approach to assessing and reducing, as far as reasonably practicable, any ground settlement that could result from underground works.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether Clause 4.5 and Clause 7 of HS2 Information Paper C3 precludes (a) Settlement Deeds or (b) a Defect Survey for individual buildings on (i) Alexandra Place, (ii) Dinerman Court, (iii) The Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate and (iv) The Rowley Estate in the constituency of Hampstead and Kilburn.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Nominated Undertaker (HS2 Ltd) is required to discharge the obligations and responsibilities in the High Speed Rail (London to West Midlands) Act 2017, including those in Information Paper C3, which forms part of the Act. The properties referred to in the question above would only qualify for settlement deeds or a defect survey if the calculated ground movement is greater than the qualifying value of movement.

Seaborne Freight

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has received any written assurances from Thanet District Council or Kent County Council that they have completed any due diligence checks on Seaborne Freight.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The contract to provide additional ferry capacity is between the Government and Seaborne Freight and therefore Government has carried out necessary due diligence.

Buses: Exhaust Emissions

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that private bus companies required to upgrade their fleets in order to meet stricter emissions standards in charging Clean Air Zones do not pass those costs onto customers through increased ticket prices.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: £40 million was awarded in February 2018 through the Clean Bus Technology Fund, to support bus operators required to upgrade their fleets so that they do not pass these costs on to customers. The £220 million Clean Air Fund is also available for local authorities with NO2 exceedances, which can fund measures to support bus operators such as fleet upgrades. Bus operators and local authorities were also able to bid for the £48 million Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme, supporting the purchase of new ultra-low emission buses which will not be charged to enter Clean Air Zones. Winning bidders are due to be announced in January 2019.

Buses: Exhaust Emissions

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that private bus companies whose vehicles are charged to enter charging Clean Air Zones do not pass that cost onto customers through increased ticket prices.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: £40 million was awarded in February 2018 through the Clean Bus Technology Fund, to support bus operators whose vehicles will be charged to enter Clean Air Zones to retrofit their fleet to the minimum emissions standard, so that they do not pass these costs on to customers. The £220 million Clean Air Fund is also available for local authorities with NO2 exceedances, which can fund measures to support bus operators such as retrofitting. Bus operators and local authorities were also able to bid for the £48 million Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme, supporting the purchase of new ultra-low emission buses which will not be charged to enter Clean Air Zones. Winning bidders are due to be announced in January 2019. £40 million was awarded in February 2018 through the Clean Bus Technology Fund, to support bus operators whose vehicles will be charged to enter Clean Air Zones to retrofit their fleet to the minimum emissions standard, so that they do not pass these costs on to customers. The £220 million Clean Air Fund is also available for local authorities with NO2 exceedances, which can fund measures to support bus operators such as retrofitting. Bus operators and local authorities were also able to bid for the £48 million Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme, supporting the purchase of new ultra-low emission buses which will not be charged to enter Clean Air Zones. Winning bidders are due to be announced in January 2019.

Level Crossings

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the end of two tone horn warnings at whistle boards on trends in the level of fatalities at railway level crossings.

Andrew Jones: The Rail Safety Standards Board (RSSB) is responsible for issuing guidance to train drivers operating on the mainline railway, including the procedures for using horns at whistle boards, which are placed in advance of most level crossings. Since June 2007, train drivers have not been required to make two tone horn warnings at whistle boards, although it remains in discretion of the driver to use two tone horn warnings if necessary, for example to give warning to someone on or near a running line. The Department continues to monitor safety on the rail network, including at level crossings, which has gradually improved over the last decade.

Taxis: Licensing

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the report entitled Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing Steps towards a safer and more robust system, published in September 2018, when the Government plans to publish its response to that report.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Ministers are considering the recommendations made by the Chair of the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing. A Government response will be issued in due course.

Large Goods Vehicles: Road Traffic

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the validity of research commissioned by his Department and undertaken by UCL on the effect of vehicle goods checks on traffic levels in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Chris Grayling: This analysis was procured by the Department and undertaken by a third party consultant two years ago. The modelling relies on a set of stylised assumptions to assess a range of scenarios. Those scenarios were developed to examine the sensitivity of traffic flows to delays. They are not a prediction of likely events. DfT has been fully preparing for a range of scenarios and has focused on no deal planning for some time. We continue to work closely with a range of partners on plans to ensure that trade and traffic can continue to move as freely as possible between the UK and Europe.

Isle of Man Ship Registry

Anna McMorrin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what oversight his Department (a) has and (b) has historically had of the recruitment process for the (i) Director and (ii) Deputy Director of the Marine Administration at the Isle of Man Ship Registry.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Although the department are responsible for the oversight and enforcement of performance standards of all the Red Ensign Group (REG) members, the appointment of Directors or Deputy Directors by a REG member is a matter for the administration and government of the territory concerned. The department are not involved in the recruiting or appointment process other than when the REG member specifically seeks the advice of the department. On this occasion, the Isle of Man administration has not sought such advice.

Ferries: Scotland

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what Government support is available to ferry companies which may wish to operate ferries from Scottish ports to EU ports after the UK leaves the EU.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: HM Government has no immediate plans to offer additional government support to any ferry operators.

Railways: Capital Investment

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many rail enhancement schemes are being considered as part of the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline; what the purpose of each enhancement under consideration is; and what stage of the pipeline each proposal is at.

Andrew Jones: We are committed to transparent policy making and we will take staged decisions to progress enhancements through the pipeline. Network Rail through the publication of the Enhancements Delivery Plan, will continue to provide public updates on the progress of enhancements in the portfolio.

Railways: Overcrowding

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of (a) the number of trains that will run overcapacity and (b) the amount by which they will exceed their capacity on average by 2025 on currents trends in funding and passenger growth.

Andrew Jones: Estimates for the number of overcrowded trains and their levels of overcrowding in 2025 are not available. Capacity provided by franchised rail operators is monitored by the DfT through a regular series of passenger counts at a number of major city centre stations. Along with other data sources, these feed into a model that allows the DfT to forecast passenger demand. Latest published forecasts for passenger demand are available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/630674/high-level-output-specification-web.pdfThe results enable the DfT to liaise with operators where capacity problems are identified, and to ensure that potential solutions are investigated. It is for the rail industry to plan to fully deploy available rolling stock to best meet passenger demand and take all reasonable steps to minimise any crowding, as set out in the Train Plan within the Franchise Agreements for DfT’s franchised train operators.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Energy Intensive Industries: Belgium

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the Belgian Government’s policy to publish an annual review of the effect of energy costs on energy-intensive industries.

Claire Perry: I have made no assessment of the Belgian Government’s policy, but I am always interested to look at research from a wide range of sources including that commissioned by other Governments in the EU and across the world.

Iron and Steel: Energy

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the recommendations in the UK Steel report entitled The energy price scandal, a fair power deal for UK steel, published in December 2018.

Richard Harrington: The UK Steel report on industrial electricity prices is a useful contribution as we develop the White Paper that will build on the principles set out by the Secretary of State in his energy speech on 15 November 2018. The report highlights the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund. The Budget on 29 October 2018 announced that we are providing £315 million for this Fund to support industrial energy efficiency and decarbonisation projects to bring energy costs down for vital industries, including the steel sector. We also continue to reduce the cumulative impact of energy and climate change policies on industrial electricity prices for key energy intensive industries. This includes a package of relief for these industries worth over £850 million since 2013, of which more than £270 million has been provided to the steel sector. We are looking carefully at the proposals in the UK Steel report for developing this package of relief.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Brexit

Esther McVey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much funding from the public purse has been allocated to his Department for financial year 2018-19 for planning for the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and how much of that funding has been spent.

Sir Alan Duncan: HM Treasury has already allocated over £4.2 billion of additional funding to departments and the devolved administrations for EU exit preparations so far. This includes the £1.5 billion of additional funding HM Treasury announced at Autumn Budget 2017 for 2018/19. A full breakdown of how this was allocated to departments can be found in the Chief Secretary's Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS540, laid on the 13th March (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-03-13/HCWS540/). This money will be paid out in Supplementary Estimates 18/19 later this financial year.The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has been allocated £29.6 million by HM Treasury for 2018-19 to support essential EU Exit preparedness. Through HMT funding and a process of internal reprioritisation we have strengthened our diplomatic network in the UK and across Europe so that it is better able to represent and promote British interests and engage with our European partners in support of a successful EU Exit. We have stepped up our No Deal planning in recent weeks, however it is not possible to identify the amount of money spent specifically on No Deal preparations as data is not stored in this way.

Asia Bibi

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department instructed the Home Office not to offer asylum to Asia Bibi due to potential unrest in the UK.

Mark Field: It is the long standing position of the Government not to comment on individual immigration issues.The UK Government's primary concern is for the safety and well-being of Asia Bibi and her family. We want to see a swift, positive resolution to the case.

Pakistan: Human Rights

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the validity of reports of continued enforced disappearances of minorities, dissidents and others in Pakistan.

Mark Field: We are concerned by restrictions on freedom of expression, including the detention of human rights defenders, journalists and others, in Pakistan. The freedom to hold and express views without censorship, intimidation or unnecessary restriction is a cornerstone of democracy. We are also concerned about restrictions on freedom of religion or belief in Pakistan. The British Government strongly condemns the persecution of all minorities, including the targeting of innocent people based on their beliefs.We regularly raise at a senior level our concerns about the human rights situation with the Government of Pakistan, including on the freedom of expression and of belief. The Prime Minister spoke to the Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on 17 August 2018 and highlighted the importance of Pakistan delivering on its commitments to strengthen institutions responsible for upholding the rule of law, and to advance the rights of minorities. My colleague, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, discussed human rights in Pakistan with the Minister for Human Rights, Dr Shireen Mazari, in September 2018. I raised these concerns with the government during my visit to Pakistan in November 2017. The British Government continues to urge Pakistan to honour in full its human rights obligations.

Pakistan: Human Rights

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support the Government of Pakistan in tackling cases of enforced disappearances in that country.

Mark Field: ​We are concerned by restrictions on freedom of expression, including the detention of human rights defenders, journalists and others, in Pakistan. The freedom to hold and express views without censorship, intimidation or unnecessary restriction is a cornerstone of democracy. We are also concerned about restrictions on freedom of religion or belief in Pakistan. The British Government strongly condemns the persecution of all minorities, including the targeting of innocent people based on their beliefs.We regularly raise at a senior level our concerns about the human rights situation with the Government of Pakistan, including on the freedom of expression and of belief. The Prime Minister spoke to the Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on 17 August 2018 and highlighted the importance of Pakistan delivering on its commitments to strengthen institutions responsible for upholding the rule of law, and to advance the rights of minorities. My colleague, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, discussed human rights in Pakistan with the Minister for Human Rights, Dr Shireen Mazari, in September 2018. I raised these concerns with the government during my visit to Pakistan in November 2017. The British Government continues to urge Pakistan to honour in full its human rights obligations.

Pakistan: Arms Trade

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he has taken to ensure that UK military goods exported to Pakistan are not used (a) in military operations in Balochistan, Federally Administered Tribal Areas or Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and (b) by internal security forces or the intelligence services to monitor the activities of (i) political activists, (ii) human rights defenders and (iii) peaceful civilians in that country.

Sir Alan Duncan: We assess all arms export licence applications for Pakistan, like other countries, against the Consolidated EU & National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. These provide a thorough risk assessment framework. We will not grant a licence if to do so would be inconsistent with these Criteria, for example where there is a clear risk that the items might be used for internal repression or in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law. We also consider if there is a risk that the items will be diverted to an undesirable end-user or for an undesirable end-use. We keep the situation under constant review. Extant licences can be revoked at any time if the situation changes and those licences are no longer assessed as being consistent with the licensing criteria.Pakistan is one of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office's ‘human rights priority countries’. We are active in promoting respect for the rule of law, including through projects financed by the Conflict, Stability & Security Fund.

EU Countries: Asylum

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the validity of recent reports of (a) human rights abuses and (b) systematic summary returns in violation of (i) the European Union Asylum Procedures Directive or (ii) the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees by Greek authorities against migrants travelling from Turkey.

Sir Alan Duncan: We are aware of reports of alleged human rights abuses and forced returns of migrants at the Greek/Turkish land border. The Ambassador to Greece visited the border area in November to meet officials there and learn more about the situation. In our contact at official and Ministerial level we have consistently raised concerns about the humanitarian situation faced by some migrants in Greece, and we will continue to do so. The UK continues to provide support, including through sharing of personnel and expertise, to help Greece deal with migrant flows.

Nicaragua: Human Rights

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the authorities in Nicaragua on upholding the human rights of (a) Amaya Coppens and (b) other human rights defenders in that country; and if he will make a statement.

Sir Alan Duncan: The UK is deeply concerned about the Nicaraguan Government's repression against its citizens who criticize the Government, including human rights defenders. The persecution includes intimidation, harassment, arbitrary detention and torture. The UK continues to call on Nicaragua to end this repression and cease its mistreatment of human rights defenders. We are aware of the particular case of Amaya Coppens, a Belgian/Nicaraguan dual citizen student protestor. As Belgium itself does not have a presence, the resident Luxembourg mission in Managua has been allowed access to trial hearings.

Albania: Drugs

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has met with his Albanian counterpart to discuss tackling levels of drug-smuggling from that country.

Sir Alan Duncan: I last saw the Albanian Foreign Minister at the Western Balkans Summit in July, and raised serious and organised crime as part of that discussion. We continue to work closely with the Albanian Government to tackle drug smuggling and other serious and organised crime through law enforcement cooperation and capacity building projects, including to strengthen the rule of law in Albania.

Forced Marriage

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of victims of forced marriages who have signed emergency loan agreements in each of the last 10 years; and of those people how many have (a) not repaid within six months and (b) been charged the additional 10 per cent surcharge; and what the total value of those surcharges is.

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish the Government policy on assistance available to repatriate British nationals who have been the victims of forced marriages; on what date it was decided that those people should enter into emergency loan agreements if they do not have the resources to fund travel themselves; and if he will change the policy to ensure that victims of forced marriage are exempt from reliance on emergency loan agreements.

Harriett Baldwin: The UK is a world-leader in the fight to tackle out the brutal practice of forced marriage, with our joint Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) which leads efforts to combat it both at home and abroad. After careful consideration, the Foreign Secretary has decided that victims of forced marriage who are helped to return to the UK by the FMU will no longer be asked to take out a loan for their repatriation costs.From now on, none of those who are assisted by the FMU - and would previously have been offered a loan - will have to cover the costs of their repatriation. Where possible, the Government will continue to seek to ensure the costs fall on the perpetrators by means of Forced Marriage Protection Orders.The Government has also agreed to ensure that those victims who have outstanding loans will have no further cost fall to them. Their passports will also be unblocked.The FMU provides support and advice for victims, those at risk, and professionals, through its public helpline. The support offered ranges from providing information and guidance to organising rescue and repatriation to the UK for victims overseas.Between 2012-2017, the FMU supported almost 1,500 victims of forced marriage who were overseas, of whom 52 took loans. There were nine cases where surcharges were added. The total value of the surcharges was £588.26.

Northern Ireland Office

Northern Ireland Office: Brexit

Esther McVey: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much funding from the public purse has been allocated to her Department for financial year 2018-19 for planning for the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and how much of that funding has been spent.

Karen Bradley: HM Treasury has already allocated over £4.2 billion of additional funding to departments and the devolved administrations for EU exit preparations so far. This includes the £1.5 billion of additional funding HM Treasury announced at Autumn Budget 2017 for 2018/19. A full breakdown of how this was allocated to departments can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS540:https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-03-13/HCWS540/.This money will be paid out in Supplementary Estimates 18/19 later this financial year. This funding was not allocated specifically for planning for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Borders: Northern Ireland

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if she will she hold discussions with the Irish Government on that country's recent mapping exercise of the Irish Border in advance of the UK leaving the EU.

Karen Bradley: The mapping exercise carried out recently by the Irish Government is a matter for them. The UK and the EU have agreed the terms of the UK’s smooth and orderly exit from the EU in the form of the Withdrawal Agreement, and a detailed political declaration on the terms of our future relationship. Delivering the settlement negotiated with the EU remains the Government’s top priority.

Attorney General

Road Traffic Offences: Prosecutions

Steve McCabe: To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 10 of September 2018 to Question 199279, which motoring offences remain the responsibility of the CPS.

Robert Buckland: The Crown Prosecution Service maintains a list of motoring offences available for prosecution. This is set out as Annex 1. Offences that are specified by The Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 (Specified Proceedings) Order 1999 have been highlighted within Annex 1. They are commenced by the police in accordance with Section 12 Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980. The DPP has a duty, in accordance with section 3(2)(a) Prosecution of Offences Act 1985, to take over the conduct of proceedings including proceedings for offences that are no longer specified. An offence ceases to be specified if the accused does not plead guilty. 



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Department for International Development

Middle East: Overseas Aid

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much overseas aid the UK provided to (a) Israel and (b) the Palestinian Territories in each of the last five years.

Alistair Burt: Israel is not eligible to receive official development assistance (ODA) according to the international definition controlled by the OECD Development Assistance Committee. The following gives United Kingdom (UK) ODA provided to West Bank and Gaza Strip in the last five years.Year20132014201520162017UK ODA £million92.4119.985.556.299.9Source: Statistics on International Development.Note: These figures include UK funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and funding from all Government Departments, including the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund.

Palestinians: Overseas Aid

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of Overseas Development Assistance to the Palestinian Authority has been spent on the Palestinian Authority Martyrs Fund in each year for which information is available.

Alistair Burt: No UK aid is used for prisoner payments or the fund to which you refer. UK aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) is used exclusively to pay the salaries of vetted health and education public servants, including teachers, doctors and nurses, in the West Bank. Our money goes into a special, dedicated bank account before being paid to individuals who have been vetted in advance through the European Union Palestinian-European Socio-Economic Management Assistance Mechanism (PEGASE), ensuring UK funding is not diverted. The UK has never allocated aid to the Martyrs Fund to which you refer and we have always had financial safeguards in place to ensure UK aid reaches the intended beneficiaries. UK aid to the PA in 2018 helped immunise up to 3,700 children, provide around 185,000 medical consultations, and educate around 24,000 young Palestinians.

Department for International Development: Brexit

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate she has made of the additional staff required by her Department in the event that the UK leaves the EU (a) with and (b) without a deal.

Harriett Baldwin: DFID’s assessment is that we would not require any additional staff to deliver our essential business in the event that the UK leaves the EU, with or without a deal.

Department for Education

Care Leavers

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of care leavers went into full-time (a) education and (b) work in each of the last five years for which information is available; and what plans the Government has to improve those figures.

Nadhim Zahawi: The available information on the activity of care leavers is published in Tables F1 (19-21 year olds) and F3 (17 and 18 year olds) of the statistical release ‘children looked after including adoption', which are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-looked-after-children. Individual-level data for 17 and 18 year old care leavers was collected for the first time in 2016 so only 3 years of data is available.A cross-government care leaver strategy (Keep on Caring) was published in July 2016, it can be reviewed at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/535899/Care-Leaver-Strategy.pdfThe publication set out five outcomes it wanted all care leavers to achieve, including improved access to education, employment or training opportunities.Since publication, the department has:Introduced new duties on Local Authorities to: consult on and publish their ‘local offer’ for care leavers, and extend support from a Personal Adviser to all care leavers to age 25;Launched the care leaver covenant, providing a way for organisations to show their commitment to care leavers, through providing concrete offers of support including apprenticeships, work experience and internships;Funded three social impact bonds projects to support care leavers who are Not in Education Employment or Training (NEET) to engage in education, employment or training; andIntroduced a £1,000 bursary for care leavers starting an apprenticeship.Local Authorities are required to provide a £2,000 bursary for care leavers who go to university; and care leavers receive a bursary of up to £1,200 a year if they are in Further Education.

Schools: Radicalism

Mike Gapes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to improve Ofsted's inspection regime for small private schools to combat extremism and radicalisation.

Anne Milton: All schools, including independent schools, are required to safeguard children from harm. This includes the harm of radicalisation and extremism. In addition to their statutory safeguarding obligations, under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, schools are subject to the Prevent duty which requires them to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”.Under the Prevent duty, and as set out in the Teachers’ Standards and Independent School Standards, schools must actively promote our shared values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.Ofsted’s inspection framework is already clear that all schools must promote these values and adhere to the Prevent duty. All inspectors are trained to inspect under the framework and Ofsted also has inspectors with specialist counter-extremism skills and experience. The department continues to work with Ofsted to learn from the findings of its inspections and ensure the department’s work continues to support the sector to effectively implement the Prevent duty.All maintained schools and academies are inspected by Ofsted, as are just under half of all independent schools. Those independent schools not inspected by Ofsted are subject to inspections by the Independent Schools Inspectorate or the School Inspection Service.The Teachers’ Standards can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/665520/Teachers__Standards.pdfThe Independent School Standards can be found here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/3283/schedule/made.

Teachers: Qualifications

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 7 December 2018 to Question 197426 on Teachers: Qualifications, what steps he is taking to ensure that more teachers of religious education have a relevant post A-level qualification in that subject.

Nick Gibb: The Government is committed to supporting schools in recruiting well qualified teachers in religious education (RE), although the responsibility for making recruitment decisions rightly rests with schools, including what specialist qualifications and experience individual teachers are expected to hold. To support recruitment efforts for postgraduate initial teacher training (ITT) courses the Department is offering a £9,000 bursary for all RE trainees with at least a 2:2 degree classification, starting in 2019/20. RE ITT applicants are also now eligible for one to one support from our expert Teacher Training Advisers, to guide them through their journey into teaching. They can access this support by registering with Get into Teaching.

Teachers: Pensions

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to allocate additional funding for universities to help meet the increase in the Teachers' Pension Scheme contribution rate from September 2019.

Chris Skidmore: The department intends to provide state-funded schools and further education providers with funding to help meet the increase in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme for the financial year 2019-20 and will be consulting to understand the effects of the increase on all other sectors, including higher education providers. Funding from 2020-21 onwards will be considered as part of the next Spending Review.

Education: Standards

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparison he has made of the educational achievement of students educated (a) at home, (b) in comprehensive schools and (c) in private schools.

Nick Gibb: The attainment of pupils, at the end of Key Stage 4, in 2017/18,[1] in all state funded mainstream schools, independent schools,[2] selective schools and non-selective schools is provided in the first attached table. Figures for 16-18 attainment in 2017/18 are provided in the second attached table. The Department no longer publishes attainment for comprehensive schools, instead schools are grouped by whether they have a selective admissions policy. The Department does not collect attainment data on children educated at home since there is no requirement to register children who are educated at home. The data published by the Department for independent and state funded schools at Key Stage 4, is not on an equivalent basis, and as such is not directly comparable. A number of independent schools choose to enter their pupils into unregulated international GCSEs, which do not count in the department’s published school performance table measures. The number of independent school pupils sitting ineligible qualifications affects the figures shown for independent school performance, as pupils are less likely to sit the required exams to complete the English Baccalaureate or Attainment 8. The Department does not publish a Progress 8 score for independent schools for similar reasons.[1] Figures are based on provisional data. Includes entries and achievements by these pupils in previous academic years.[2] Not including independent special schools.



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Universities: Staff

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of university teaching staff come from working-class backgrounds.

Chris Skidmore: The information requested is not held centrally.

Reading: Curriculum

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of allocating time within the National Curriculum for reading in book form.

Nick Gibb: Reading is an essential foundation to a child’s education and the acquisition of knowledge. The National Curriculum aims to ensure that all pupils can read easily, fluently and with good comprehension, and requires pupils to study a range of books, poems and plays to develop a life long love of literature. The National Curriculum does not prescribe teaching hours for any subject. It is for schools to decide how much time pupils spend reading.

Sex and Relationship Education

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the rights of parents to withdraw their children from sex education lessons.

Nick Gibb: The Government is making relationships education compulsory for all primary pupils, relationships and sex education (RSE) compulsory for all secondary pupils and health education compulsory in all state-funded schools.A consultation on the draft regulations and statutory guidance for these subjects closed on 7 November 2018. The draft guidance advises head teachers that parents can request that their child be withdrawn from sex education as part of secondary RSE and, unless there are exceptional circumstances, they should agree the parents’ request until 3 terms before the child turns 16. The draft guidance states that after that point, if the child wishes to receive sex education, this should be provided in one of those three terms. Sex education is not compulsory in primary schools but where it is taught, parents will have an automatic right to withdraw their children, if they wish. In line with the current position, there will be no right to withdraw from sex education which is taught as part of the science national curriculum. Schools will be required to consult parents on their policy for these subjects and the Department expects schools to work in close partnership with parents, as is currently the case. The new framework is the best way to secure the proper balance between parents’ rights and the rights of young people once they are competent to make their own choices.  The Department is currently considering all the responses to the consultation and the views expressed are helping to inform the final regulations and statutory guidance on the right to withdraw. Regulations are expected to be laid in the spring of 2019 for a full debate and vote in Parliament. The Government’s response to the consultation will be published and a copy of the guidance will be placed in the Library of the House of Commons once the regulations are laid.

Free Schools: Religion

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the religious character is of existing free schools.

Anne Milton: The department publishes information on the religious character of all schools, including free schools, on the Get Information about Schools website. As set out in the table below, of the 442 free schools open as of 1 January 2019, 76 have a faith designation.Schools designated with a religious character have specific freedoms over how they deliver religious education, appoint staff and their admissions.FaithDesignation Christian11Church of England Churhc22Church of England/Christian1Greek Orthodox1Hindu5Jewish6Multi-Faith3Muslim17Orthodox Jewish1Sikh9Total76

Schools: Mobile Phones

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of the use of mobile phones by pupils on discipline in school classrooms.

Nick Gibb: In 2017 the Department commissioned behaviour expert Tom Bennett to carry out an independent review on behaviour management in schools, focusing on leadership, culture and systems used to tackle disruptive pupils’ behaviour. The report includes a chapter about the use of technology in schools and case studies of policies in place. The report can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/behaviour-in-schools. The Government has made clear that teachers can use reasonable force to maintain behaviour, extending their searching powers and allowing teachers to impose same day detentions. Head teachers have powers to set school behaviour policies, including rules for mobile phone use. Each school has the autonomy to ban or limit the use of mobile phones on school premises and during the school day. Schools should set out in the behaviour policy their approach to pupil mobile phone use and any sanction that will be imposed for breaking the rules. Sanctions can include confiscating phones, where necessary. Teachers can search pupils without their consent for a mobile phone if mobile phones are banned by the school rules or if they reasonably suspect the phone has been or is likely to be used to commit an offence or cause personal injury. Advice on searching, screening and confiscation was published last year and can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/searching-screening-and-confiscation.Last year the Government announced a £10 million investment to further support schools and teachers to share best practice and knowledge on behaviour management and classroom management.

Universities: Pay

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the value for money of the average salary received by University Vice-Chancellors.

Chris Skidmore: Universities are autonomous institutions but they receive significant amounts of public funding, so they are subject to public scrutiny.‎ The government has set up the regulator, the Office for Students (OfS), to regulate the higher education sector. Universities are now required to publish the justification for salaries of their Vice-Chancellors, and the OfS has powers to take action if universities do not do this.

Schools: Mental Health Services

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Royal College of Psychiatrists briefing entitled Children and young people's mental health, published in November 2018, what plans his Department has to ensure the timely roll-out of designated senior leads and mental health support teams in schools; and whether his Department has a timetable for the roll-out of such initiatives in every school.

Nick Gibb: Over the next five years the NHS will fund new Mental Health Support Teams working in schools and colleges which will be rolled out to between one fifth and a quarter of England by 2023. This will start with 25 trailblazer areas which will be fully operational by the end of 2019. Next steps for roll out are being considered as part of the NHS long term plan and will be informed by the evaluation of the initial trailblazers. The designated senior lead for mental health training will be available from the academic year 2019/20, over a five-year period, so that all schools and colleges have the chance to train a lead.

Higher Education: Disadvantaged

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page five of the Office for Students' 13 December 2018 document entitled A new approach to regulating access and participation in English higher education: Consultation outcomes, and the announcement that colleges and universities will no longer be required to spend a set amount of tuition fee income to support disadvantaged students, what metrics will be used to measure the outcomes that providers achieve and the level of ambition they set.

Chris Skidmore: The government has asked the Office for Students (OfS) to secure greater and faster progress in ensuring that students from disadvantaged and under-represented groups, can access and successfully participate in higher education. The reforms to access and participation are designed to help achieve this.Arrangements for improving access and participation have never required higher education providers to spend a minimum amount through their access and participation plans. Rather, guidelines are in place to set out the expected levels of expenditure for different types of higher education providers.The new approach being introduced by the OfS is designed to provide a greater focus on securing improved access and successful participation outcomes. As part of their access and participation plans, higher education providers will be encouraged to be more ambitious and set strategic outcomes based targets based on the areas and groups of students where they have most to do. Investment levels and a provider’s evaluation plans will be important issues that the OfS will also want to consider when agreeing a provider’s access and participation plan.The OfS intends to assess the progress through annual impact reports and action plans which providers will be expected to submit to the OfS.

Special Educational Needs

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to Answer of 7 January 2018 to Question 203903, of the 236,225 statements of special educational needs in place on 31 August 2014 how many (a) have been transferred to an EHC, (b) were assessed and a decision made not to transfer to an EHC plan, (c) were discontinued because the individual had left school at the end of compulsory schooling or after and (d) were reviewed and discontinued as special needs were being met without Statement or EHC plan or for other reasons.

Nadhim Zahawi: The department publishes the requested data for those that (a) have been transferred to an education health and care (EHC) plan and (b) were assessed and a decision made not to transfer to an EHC plan by individual calendar year in the ‘Statements of SEN and EHC plans’ publication available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statements-of-sen-and-ehc-plans-england-2018.The same publication also includes the combined totals of statements and EHC plans that (c) were discontinued because the individual had left school at the end of compulsory schooling or after and (d) were reviewed and discontinued as special needs were being met without Statement or EHC plan or for other reasons.

Schools: Finance

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on future school funding; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State meets with the my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and other Cabinet ministers regularly to discuss the Department for Education agenda.

Special Educational Needs: Finance

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the level of future funding for special needs education; and if he will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the level of future funding for special needs education in schools; and if he will make a statement.

Nadhim Zahawi: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State meets with my right hon, Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer and other Cabinet ministers regularly to discuss the Department for Education agenda.

Special Educational Needs

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the Special Provision Capital Fund allocation has been for (a) the London Borough of Redbridge (b) local authorities on average throughout England in each year since 1997.

Nick Gibb: In March 2017, the Government announced that it was investing £215 million in the Special Provision Capital Fund and published how much each local authority will receive across a 3-year period. In May 2018, the Department announced a further £50 million top-up to this fund and then in December 2018, announced an additional £100 million. This takes the total investment to £365 million.Redbridge has so far been allocated £3.6 million[1] between 2018 and 2021 and will see a further increase to their allocation in due course, once allocations from the additional £100 million top-up are announced. Published information on this fund and the allocations can be found on GOV.UK.As the Government originally announced the investment in the Special Provision Capital Fund in March 2017, information on the fund prior to this date does not exist. Local authorities in England have been allocated an average of £478,000[2] for 2018-19, £811,000[3] for 2019-20 and £478,000[4] for 2020-21. The 2019-20 allocation includes the £50 million top-up funding announced in May 2018; the further £100 million top-up funding will also be applied as an uplift to the 2019-20 amount, once allocations are announced. The City of London and Isles of Scilly are not included in this fund and will not receive allocations. [1] Exact figure: £3,640,863[2] Exact figure: £477,777.78[3] Exact figure: £811,111.11[4] Exact figure: £477,777.78

Schools: Redbridge

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what capital funding has been provided for schools in the London Borough of Redbridge in each year since 2010.

Nick Gibb: The London Borough of Redbridge received over £140 million of core capital allocations from the Department for Education from 2011-12 to 2018-19 financial years.This figure includes condition allocations to the local authority (LA) for maintained and voluntary aided schools (which the LA can decide how to prioritise), basic need funding to the LA for new school places, and devolved formula capital allocated directly to schools. Data on capital funding allocated to local areas prior to 2011-12 is not readily available.It does not include other condition funding that schools in Redbridge may have benefited from; larger multi academy-trusts receive their own allocations and often allocate funding across constituency and LA boundaries. Smaller or standalone trusts and sixth form colleges are instead eligible for funding through the annual Condition Improvement Fund. Published data on capital allocations is available on the GOV.UK website.

Teachers: Training

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, who is planned to be eligible for the national retraining scheme.

Anne Milton: ​The National Retraining Scheme, announced in the Autumn 2017 Budget, will support adults to retrain as the economy changes.The scheme will target those who are employed, with a particular focus on those with jobs that are at risk of technological change over the age of 24, and who do not hold a qualification at degree level.​Through findings from our user research and Career Learning pilots, we will continue to test and develop the scheme, with its strategic direction being overseen by a key partnership between the Confederation of British Industry, the Trades Union Congress and government.

Trimega

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of the 20 November 2018 to Written Question 191957 on Trimega, if he will list the local authorities identified as having commissioned tests by Trimega.

Nadhim Zahawi: Given the ongoing criminal investigation, the department does not intend to publish a list of local authorities who have commissioned services from Trimega Laboratories Limited during the period of January 2010 and April 2014.

Teaching Excellence Framework Independent Review: Public Appointments

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, who the members of the advisory group on the review of the teaching excellence framework are.

Chris Skidmore: Dame Shirley Pearce is undertaking an independent review of the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework, as required by the Higher Education and Research Act (2017). She has appointed an expert group to advise her on the independent review and she intends to announce the membership of this group at the same time as she launches a public call for views to inform her review, which will be very shortly. On Dame Shirley’s behalf, once published, a copy of the call for views and a list of members of the advisory group, will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

GCE A-level

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative assessment he has made of A level results at (a) sixth form colleges and (b) other institutions teaching A levels in terms of (i) absolute attainment and (ii) progress.

Nick Gibb: The Department publishes the attainment and progress scores for students in each institution type[1]. The latest table for A level attainment (provisional figures for 2017/18) and value added scores (revised figures for 2016/17) can be found in the attached table. On January 24 2019 the revised figures for 2017/18 will be released and will include the first release of value added figures for 2017/18. 1 [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-attainment-at-19-years. Select the revised publication for each year (provisional is the latest release for 2017/18) and open the national tables. Table 1a provides figures on A level attainment, table 1e provides figures for value added scores. Future publications will be available from this link.



206467_A_Level_attainment_by_institution_type
(PDF Document, 138.16 KB)

T-levels

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the per student funding rate for T levels will compare to the rate for A levels.

Anne Milton: ​T levels will be larger and more demanding than current equivalent programmes, and the government has announced the investment of an additional £500 million a year to support providers to deliver T levels once they are fully rolled out.​The funding rates for T level programmes will be higher than for existing study programmes, and are subject to a public consultation which was published on 27 November 2018 and will close on 19 February 2019 – available at: https://consult.education.gov.uk/fe-funding/t-level-funding-methodology/. The consultation document proposes that T level funding rates will vary depending on the size of the T level, with the smallest attracting a rate of £4,170 per year and the largest £5,835. As set out in the T levels funding consultation document, additional funding would also be provided on top of these rates through the funding formula.

Secondary Education: Finance

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative assessment he has made of the ratio of funding rates for (a) all secondary education and (b) upper secondary education in (i) the UK, (ii) France (iii) Germany and (iv) the US.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Pupils: Per Capita Costs

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average per pupil funding rate was for (a) GCSE students and (b) A-level students in each year since 2010.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ministry of Justice

Prison Officers: Private Sector

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 12 December 2018 to Question 200148 on Prisons Officers: Private Sector, for what reason HM Prison and Probation workforce statistics are not published for privately-managed prisons.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 12 December 2018 to Question 200148 on Prisons Officers: Private Sector, when the last time HM Prison and Probation workforce statistics on prison custody officers were published for privately-managed prisons.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 12 December 2018 to Question 200148 on Prisons Officers: Private Sector, what information his Department holds on staffing numbers for privately-managed prisons.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 12 December 2018 to Question 200148 on Prisons Officers: Private Sector, who within his Department is responsible for ensuring that Contractors for privately-managed prisons maintain the number of trained staff necessary to discharge the requirements of the contract.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 12 December 2018 to Question 200148 on Prisons Officers: Private Sector, who within his Department is responsible for ensuring that privately-managed prison establishments are operated safely and securely.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 12 December 2018 to Question 200148 on Prisons Officers: Private Sector, for what reasons operators of privately-managed prisons are not required to meet the same transparency standards as those required for publicly operated prisons.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 12 December 2018 to Question 200148 on Prisons Officers: Private Sector, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of requiring operators of privately-managed prison to publish the same workforce data as publicly operated prisons.

Rory Stewart: As we have previously stated, the contracts between the Department and all private prison providers require the Contractor to be responsible for all staffing matters, including ensuring the availability of sufficiently trained and experienced staff to maintain safe and decent prisons. There is no requirement in the contracts to inform the Department of staffing levels in privately managed prisons, nor agree those levels with the Department. There have been no changes made to the required staffing information since 2012. The Government does not publish workforce statistics on prison custody officers in post at any privately managed prison. Each privately managed prison has a full-time on-site Controller employed by HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) whose role it is to monitor performance at the prison across a range of indicators. Any concerns in relation to these performance indicators are discussed with the provider, and, where necessary, appropriate action is taken in accordance with the contract. If the contract management team are concerned that outcomes are affected by problems related to staffing, based on local intelligence the controller observes on site, then this will form part of contract management processes and procedures and dialogue will be had with the provider. If we require outcomes to be improved we will expect that action by the provider will address any matters of staffing, such as levels of attrition. We hold both public and private sector prisons to account for the outcomes they deliver. As the Department does not currently collect workforce data from private prison providers, to publish these or require the provider to do so would require significant changes to the contracts of all private prison providers and we currently have no plans to do this. As set out in my Written Ministerial Statement on 29 November, this Government remains committed to a role for the private sector in operating custodial services. As part of the competition process, we will undertake rigorous operational and financial assessments of bids put forward, including staffing commitments. The performance of all providers is, and will continue to be, robustly managed and contracts for the operation of new prisons will not be awarded unless bids meet quality and value for money thresholds.

Prisons: Finance

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 December 2018 to Question 199452 on Prisons: Standards, how much of the identified spending was allocated to each of the 10 prisons in that project in each month.

Rory Stewart: Further to the Secretary of State for Justice’s answer to Question 199452, where he provided a monthly breakdown of the £10m funding allocation for the 10 Prisons Project, from start of September 2018 to end of March 2019, Annex A breaks down the funding allocation by each of the 10 prisons. The funding allocation differs slightly between prisons, due to the Department flexing and reprioritising funding where it is needed most in our prisons, to tackle violence and abusive behaviour, increase our security against drugs, and provide additional investment in leadership. The funding has remained broadly consistent at c£1m per prison.



Annex A
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Prisons: Contracts

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2018 to Question 196269, on Prisons: Contracts, if he will publish the review that concluded that establishing an internal bid team was unnecessarily complex.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2018 to Question 196269, on Prisons: Contracts, what steps he is taking to ensure that the public sector benchmark against which potential operators’ bids will be assessed is (a) robust and (b) covers all delivery requirements that will be expected of private sector providers.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2018 to Question 196269, on Prisons: Contracts, what steps he is taking to establish transparency in relation to (a) the public-sector benchmark and (b) the assessment process.

Rory Stewart: The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has recently launched a competition to establish a framework of prison operators, from which the operators of the new prisons at Wellingborough and Glen Parva will be selected.Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) will not be bidding in the competition. The Department has recently responded to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request and confirmed that it considers the information relating to the decision of HMPPS not bidding in the competition to be exempt from disclosure under the 2000 FOI Act on the grounds of development of government policy and commercial sensitivities.However, the competition will use a ‘public sector benchmark’, against which the quality and cost of potential operators’ bids will be assessed. The public sector benchmark was developed in consultation with subject matter experts across HMPPS and directly informed the delivery requirements including cost and quality thresholds that form part of the draft contractual documentation for the competition. Where bids received do not meet these thresholds, there will be no contract award and the public sector will act as the provider.The MoJ will, in accordance with the Public Contract Regulations and relevant Government policies, take into consideration the past record and performance of companies involved in the tender process before considering any bids. We will make sure that the tender process ensures that the companies bidding for any of the contracts to operate new prisons have the capability, credibility, legitimacy and capacity to run the contracts effectively. The evaluation methodology included in the framework competition documentation has been designed to establish the most robust bids based on published quality, value and affordability criteria, and compared to a public sector comparator for each call off contract. Following the conclusion of the tender process any contract awarded will be published.

Civil Partnerships Dissolution and Divorce

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what comparison he has made of the divorce rates of married couples and couples within civil partnerships.

Lucy Frazer: The Office for National Statistics has published data on the rates of divorce and civil partnership dissolution, available at https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/vitalstatisticspopulationandhealthreferencetables. The most recent data is for 2017. These rates are not directly comparable, given that no civil partnerships can date back before the first formations in 2005. The first dissolutions took place in 2007. The Government believes that committed family relationships are important to society. That is why the Prime Minister has announced that the Government will extend civil partnerships to opposite sex couples.

Trespass

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to make trespass a criminal offence.

Lucy Frazer: Last year the Government ran a consultation on Powers for dealing with unauthorised development and encampment. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will publish a Government response in due course.

Duty Solicitors

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the long term viability of the criminal duty solicitors scheme.

Lucy Frazer: The Government is clear that there are sufficient solicitors to undertake criminal legal aid-funded cases and will make sure this continues to be the case. The Legal Aid Agency monitors capacity across criminal legal aid contracts on a regular basis and takes action to ensure there is ongoing availability of criminal legal advice for the public. The 2017 tender for crime contracts resulted in a greater number of offices being awarded a criminal legal aid contract, providing sufficient coverage in each local authority area. The Government is also beginning a review of all criminal legal aid fee schemes, including the criminal duty solicitor fee scheme, in January 2019.

Ministry of Justice: Brexit

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the additional staff required by his Department in the event that the UK leaves the EU (a) with and (b) without a deal.

Lucy Frazer: The approximate total number of people working on EU exit across the MoJ is 110 MoJ EU exit programme includes work on both deal and no-deal scenarios in preparation for the UK exit from the EU. Departments continually review workforce plans, reprioritise and assess changing needs, which includes identification and cessation of non-priority work where appropriate. We have accelerated our plans, and at the same time, the Civil Service as a whole is working to ensure that EU ExitImplementation is carried out to high quality without impacting public service delivery across the whole of government.

Rape: Convictions

Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the conviction ratio was for rape offences in the 12 months to June 2018.

Lucy Frazer: Conviction ratios for individual offences are currently published up to December 2017. Figures for individual offences such as rape for 2018 are subject to ongoing data processing and validation and will be published in May 2019. The conviction ratio for rape offences in the 6 months to December 2017 can be calculated using the Outcomes by offence data tool at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2017.Drag the ‘Year’ and ‘Quarter’ variables into the Filter box and select 2017 and Q3 and Q4Search for ‘rape’ in the ‘Offence’ filter and ensure all rape offences (19C to 19H) are selectedThe conviction ratio can be calculated as the number of convictions as a proportion of the number of proceedingsConviction ratios for more recent periods are currently only published for higher level offence groups (in this case, sexual offences) and the latest figures are available in the Overview Tables here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-june-2018.

Ministry of Justice: Brexit

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many non-disclosure agreements his Department has signed with (a) companies and (b) trade associations advising the Government on preparations for contingency planning for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Lucy Frazer: The Ministry of Justice has not signed any Non-Disclosure Agreements in relation to preparations for No-Deal contingency planning.

Offences Against Children: Convictions

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the number of sports coaches convicted for sexual abuse of children in the last two years.

Lucy Frazer: The Ministry of Justice court proceeding database does not hold data specifically relating to the occupation of the defendant. The protection of children remains a priority for this Government and we keep this important area of the law under review.

Social Security Benefits: Greater London

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of successful appeals to the tribunals service there were for (a) personal independence payment, (b) employment and support allowance, (c) income support, (d) jobseeker's allowance, (e) tax credits and (f) universal credit in (i) Lewisham Deptford constituency, (ii) Lewisham borough and (iii) London in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Lucy Frazer: Information about the volumes and outcomes of appeals - including (a) Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and (b) Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) - to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) (SSCS) is published at:www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics. Latest figures (to September 2018) indicate that since PIP was introduced, 3.7 million decisions have been made, and of these 10% have been appealed and 5% have been overturned at tribunals. For ESA, 3.7m ESA (post Work Capability Assessment) decisions have been made between April 2014 and June 2018 and of these 8% have been appealed and 4% have been overturned at tribunals. HM Courts & Tribunals Service does not record data based on constituencies. SSCS appeals are listed into the hearing venue nearest to the appellant’s home address. The published data (which can be viewed at the link above) provide information about the outcomes of PIP and ESA appeals for hearing venues covering (i) Lewisham, Deptford, (ii) Lewisham Borough and (iii) London for the period July – September 2018, the latest period for which data are available. The table below contains the requested information for (c) Income Support (IS), (d) Job Seekers Allowance (JSA), (e) Tax Credits (TC) and (f) Universal Credit (UC):Number of appeals cleared at hearing and proportion1 decided in favour of the appellant for the period July to September 2018p (the latest period for which data are available) ISJSATC2UC Number cleared at hearing3% in favour of the appellantNumber cleared at hearing% in favour of the appellantNumber cleared at hearing% in favour of the appellantNumber cleared at hearing% in favour of the appellantLewisham Deptford/ Lewisham Borough417~2941%5542%24763%London53321%4937%9034%28663% P Data are provisional, in line with the published statistics.1 Proportion based on the number of cases found in favour of the appellant at a tribunal hearing, as a percentage of the cases heard at a tribunal hearing. 2 Includes Working Family Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit. 3 Number of appeals cleared at a tribunal hearing. 4 Appeals for those living in the Lewisham, Deptford constituency and Lewisham Borough are heard in the same venues: Bexleyheath, Fox Court and Sutton venues. 5 London includes the venues: Bexleyheath, Fox Court, Sutton, Enfield, East London, Romford and Hatton Cross. ~ Equates to a value fewer than 5. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and are the best data that are available. These data may differ slightly from those in the published statistics as these data were run on a different date.

Emergency Services: Crimes of Violence

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prosecutions there have been in (a) Greater Manchester and (b) the UK under the Emergency Workers (Obstruction) Act 2006.

Lucy Frazer: The number of defendants proceeded against in Greater Manchester and in England and Wales under the Emergency Workers (Obstruction) Act 2006, from 2008 to 2017, can be viewed in the attached table. Court proceedings data for 2018 is planned for publication in May 2019.



Table
(Word Document, 15.7 KB)

Legal Aid Scheme

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 10 December 2018 to Question 197618 on Legal Aid Scheme, when the Government plans to publish its review of the legal aid reforms brought in by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.

Lucy Frazer: The Lord Chancellor has confirmed that we shall conduct an evidence-based review of Part 1 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, assessing the changes to legal aid provision against their original objectives. As stated in the House on 18 December, this review is now near completion and will be published shortly. This process of consideration and engagement with interested parties also represents an opportunity for the Government to consider what the future of legal support should look like.

Probate

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the average cost of administering probate for an estate valued at (a) £5,000 (b) £50,0000 and (c) £2 million; and if he will make a statement.

Lucy Frazer: Whilst current probate fees are determined based on an assessment of unit costing at a service level, the Ministry of Justice has not made any assessment specifically on the costs to HMCTS of administering an application for probate for estates of £5,000, £50,000 or £2 million.

Forensic Science: Misconduct

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many of the road traffic cases affected by manipulation of toxicology tests by Randox Testing Services resulted in a custodial sentence being overturned; and how long each of those sentences were prior to the manipulation being discovered.

Lucy Frazer: The Ministry of Justice has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Forensic Science: Misconduct

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many of the road traffic cases affected by manipulation of toxicology tests by Randox Testing Services resulted in a custodial sentence reduced; and by how much each such sentence was reduced by.

Lucy Frazer: The Ministry of Justice has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Forensic Science: Misconduct

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) initial conviction and (b) sentence or penalty was in the road traffic cases overturned under Section 142 of the Magistrates Court Act 1980 as a result of manipulation of forensic testing.

Lucy Frazer: The Ministry of Justice has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ministry of Justice: Brexit

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department is spending on a public information campaign to prepare people for the potential effects of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Lucy Frazer: The Government has a duty to inform citizens and businesses about how leaving the EU might affect them, and to advise on the steps they may need to take to prepare for EU Exit.Cabinet Office has developed a cross-departmental public information campaign to help achieve this. Over the coming weeks, departments will be using a range of channels to direct UK citizens, businesses, EU citizens living in the UK and UK nationals living in the EU to a dedicated area on GOV.UK at Gov.uk/euexitInformation on the costs associated with this campaign will be released in due course as part of normal data transparency releases

Department for International Trade

Department for International Trade: Brexit

Esther McVey: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much funding from the public purse has been allocated to his Department for financial year 2018-19 for planning for the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and how much of that funding has been spent.

George Hollingbery: HM Treasury has already allocated over £4.2 billion of additional funding to departments and the devolved administrations for EU exit preparations so far. This includes the £1.5 billion of additional funding HM Treasury announced at Autumn Budget 2017 for 2018/19. A full breakdown of how this was allocated to departments can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS540, laid on the 13th March (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-03-13/HCWS540/). This money will be paid out in Supplementary Estimates 18/19 later this financial year. The Department for International Trade integrates its scenario planning for EU exit into our overall programmes of work. ‘No deal’ planning is not undertaken by a distinct team and it is therefore not possible to separately identify the spend associated with the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Housing: Construction

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much has been spent to date through the National Productivity Investment Fund to accelerate the building of homes on small, stalled sites as announced in Budget 2017.

James Brokenshire: There is no single solution to tackling the long-term shortfall in housing supply which is why the Government, together with its agencies and partners, is working on a range of interventions.Therefore, the Government has launched a range of programmes aimed at supporting the release of land for housing by providing funding to acquire, de-risk and make them attractive for rapid development. These sites would not have come forward without the Government intervention a demonstration of Government’s commitment to tackling the housing crisis in this country.These Programmes include:* £630 million Small Sites Fund;* £45 million Land Release Fund (LRF), distributed through One Public Estate;* £5 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) (Homes England and GLA);* £465 million Local authority Accelerated Construction Programme (Homes England and GLA); and* £1.1 billion Land Assembly Fund.We have recently agreed a £226 million memorandum of understanding with the Greater London Authority for delivery of small stalled sites through the Accelerated Construction programme and Small Sites Fund in London. We will make payment to the Greater London Authority on completion of agreed milestones as investments in sites are made.Homes England are working with local authorities and others to develop a long-term pipeline of developable land prioritising the identification of sites suitable for housing which have stalled and are not being taken forward, especially in the least affordable places. Once identified, sites are assessed for development potential. We expect to make funding commitments in sites as they are ready over the next 12 months.Furthermore, we have committed £866 million to 133 Marginal Viability Funding schemes under the Housing Infrastructure Fund to unlock up to 200,000 homes mostly on smaller sites.

Weeton Barracks

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken with the Ministry of Defence to improve the infrastructure around Weeton Barracks ahead of the upcoming expansion of that barracks.

Kit Malthouse: MHCLG works closely with MoD on sites that are being released for housing. As Weeton Barracks is in operational use, MHCLG are not engaging with MoD on this site.

Uk Shared Prosperity Fund: Public Consultation

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 10 September 2018 to Question 170708 on UK Shared Prosperity Fund: Public Consultation, which Departments decided to postpone the consultation on the shared prosperity fund.

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 10 September 2018 to Question 170708 on UK Shared Prosperity Fund: Public Consultation, for what reason the consultation on the shared prosperity fund has been delayed.

Jake Berry: The Government recognises the importance of reassuring local areas on the future of local growth funding once we have left the European Union and providing clarity on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). Therefore we intend to publish the full consultation document shortly.The Government has continued to make great progress on the design of the UKSPF over the past year and, ahead of the forthcoming consultation on the UKSPF, have held seventeen engagement events across the UK with over five hundred representatives from a breadth of sectors, in order to aid policy development.

Building Regulations: Fire Prevention

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the fire safety and building regulations in relation to self-storage facilities.

Kit Malthouse: On 18 December 2018 the Government published a Call for Evidence for a wider Technical Review of Approved Document B.The review will address fire safety issues for all types of buildings. Responses to the call for evidence are invited by 1 March.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund: Public Consultation

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which Departments his officials have consulted on the proposed design of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Jake Berry: Work has been continuing across Government and great progress has been made on the development of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). Government intends to launch a public consultation on the design of the UKSPF shortly.

Housing: Construction

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much has been allocated in new homes bonus payments to Wirral council in each year since 2011.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: The table below sets out New Homes Bonus allocations to the Wirral Council in each year since 2011. Provisional allocations for 2019/20 were announced in December last year and will be confirmed alongside the final Local Government Finance Settlement.Table: Wirral Council New Homes Bonus allocationsYearAmountYear 1 (2011-12)£260,019Year 2 (2012-13)£1,000,472Year 3 (2013-14)£1,516,283Year 4 (2014-15)£1,768,209Year 5 (2015-16)£2,597,583Year 6 (2016-17)£3,177,853Year 7 (2017-18)£2,264,181Year 8 (2018-19)£1,519,543

Temporary Accommodation: Children

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many children were living in temporary accommodation in (a) the London Borough of Redbridge, (b) Greater London and (c) England in each year since 2010.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: The Government Publishes the number of children who are living in temporary accommodation, at local authority, London and national level. You are able to find these statistics at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness.The Government is committed to reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why last summer we published the cross-government Rough Sleeping Strategy. This sets out an ambitious £100 million package to help people who sleep rough now, but also puts in place the structures that will end rough sleeping once and for all. The Government has now committed over £1.2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the spending review period.

Leasehold: Ground Rent

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to amend the Housing Act 2004 so that clauses in long leases which would cause the ground rent to exceed the statutory levels set out in that Act will be void for derogation of grant.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: Where ground rents exceed £250 per year or £1,000 per year in London, a leaseholder is classed as an assured tenant. This has the effect of bringing some leaseholders within the ambit of Ground 8 of Part 1 to Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988. This means, for even small sums of arrears, leaseholders could be subject to a mandatory possession order if they were to default on payment of ground rent. This is a disproportionate remedy that was never intended for leaseholders. As part of our leasehold reform work we are committed to legislating for provisions which ensure that leaseholders will not be subject to Ground 8 mandatory possession orders for arrears of ground rent. We will bring forward the necessary legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows.

Leasehold

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps in addition to the current review of the leasehold system is his Department taking to provide a reasonable outcome for those leaseholders who bought properties with onerous lease terms.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: The Secretary of State held a roundtable meeting in November in which he made clear to developers that greater support must be made available to existing leaseholders with onerous lease terms. Some developers have introduced schemes to assist individuals with onerous leases which is welcome, but these must be extended to include second hand buyers. We are keeping a close eye on progress and will consider taking further action if necessary.We are also working with the Law Commission to support existing leaseholders. The Law Commission’s consultation on making buying a freehold or extending a lease easier, faster, fairer and cheaper, which closed on 7 January, included proposals for a prescribed formula for costs.

Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to amend the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 to include the enforcement of covenants by (a) management companies and (b) third parties.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: Section 12 of the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 already supports the enforcement of covenants by (a) management companies and (b) third parties.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Oral Questions

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will set out the subject areas on which his Department is responsible for answering Oral Questions in Parliament.

James Brokenshire: Details of ministerial responsibilities can be found on Gov.uk.

Planning Permission

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he next plans to review his policy on permitted development rights.

Kit Malthouse: We keep permitted development rights under review and are currently consulting on a package of new national permitted development rights to support the high street and deliver more homes.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Parliamentary Questions

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many times his Department has transferred (a) a Written Parliamentary Question and (b) an Oral Parliamentary Question to a different Department since July 2017.

James Brokenshire: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Housing: Design

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his consultation on extending permitted development rights will take account of his recent commitment to improve design standards; and if he will make a statement.

Kit Malthouse: New development should demonstrate high quality design, reflecting the character of the local area. Our consultation, “Planning Reform: supporting the high street and increasing the delivery of new homes,” invites views on how the use of local design codes could help to improve the design quality of upward extensions to existing premises to create new homes.

Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence: Brexit

Esther McVey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much funding from the public purse has been allocated to his Department for financial year 2018-19 for planning for the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and how much of that funding has been spent.

Mark Lancaster: Her Majesty's Treasury has already allocated over £4.2 billion of additional funding to Departments and the devolved administrations for EU exit preparations so far. This includes the £1.5 billion of additional funding HM Treasury announced at Autumn Budget 2017 for 2018/19. A full breakdown of how this was allocated to Departments can be found in the Chief Secretary's Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS540, laid on 13 March 2018.(https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-03-13/HCWS540/).The Ministry of Defence has been allocated £12.7 million in 2018-19 for essential EU exit preparations. As with all HMT Reserve funding, finalised allocations will be confirmed at Supplementary Estimates 2018-19 in early 2019.



HCWS540 - Spring Statement
(Word Document, 23.93 KB)

Weeton Barracks: Infrastructure

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps the Government has taken to improve infrastructure in the local area for the upcoming expansion of Weeton barracks.

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what consultations his Department has held with local residents on the upcoming expansion to Weeton barracks.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) announced its intention to expand Weeton Barracks in the estate optimisation strategy "A Better Defence Estate" in November 2016. Defence is delivering this work through the Defence Estate Optimisation Programme (DEOP), with timescales looking out to 2040. Given the scale of the DEOP, and the fact that it will be delivered over 25 years, plans continue to be refined to best support operational capability. The MOD's intent remains the delivery of a regional light infantry centre in Blackpool, which will include the future relocation of HQ North West from Fulwood Barracks to Weeton Barracks. As part of this work, Defence will engage fully with Local Authorities and wider community from an early stage and will follow the normal statutory planning process regarding its redevelopment. Parliament will continue to be updated regularly on our plans.

War Pensions

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to publish the war disablement pension rates for 2019.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Ministry of Defence will announce War Pensions Scheme rates for 2019 by way of a Written Ministerial Statement at the end of January 2019.

Afghanistan: Military Intervention

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent discussions he has had with (a) his counterpart in the US Government and (b) his counterparts in other NATO member states on military operations in Afghanistan.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence remains in close contact with our NATO partners regarding the NATO Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan. Our message has been clear that the UK continues to support a conditions-based approach where the development of a self-sufficient Afghan Security Force remains a key objective. The Secretary of State had an introductory call with the Acting US Defence Secretary on 8 January, where the current situation in Afghanistan was discussed. We welcome the US's continued efforts in promoting an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned peace process which is the only way to secure lasting peace.

Ministry of Defence: Energy

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Sustainable MOD Strategy: act and evolve 2015-2025, what steps his Department is taking to (a) increase its energy efficiency and (b) reduce its dependency on fossil fuels.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Sustainable Ministry of Defence (MOD) strategy 2015 to 2025, provides direction to address the risks to defence business and capabilities, which if made more sustainable, will enable the Department to be more efficient, resilient and adaptable in the future. To support the achievement of these objectives, the MOD invested over £2 million in energy efficiency projects in 2017-18 and is actively engaged in delivering pilot renewable schemes in 2019-20 to reduce the dependency on fossil fuels.

Armed Forces: Alternative Fuels

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the potential for further use of alternative fuels by the armed forces.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Ministry of Defence continues to work extensively with its allies and partners to create opportunities to use alternative fuels and it is committed to clearing synthetic blending components, for use in military platforms, in accordance with industry standards.

University Royal Naval Units

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what (a) the tasks and (b) the individual establishment of University Reserve Naval Units are; and what in addition to undergraduate and graduate training purposes they are used for.

Mark Lancaster: There are 15 University Royal Naval Units (URNUs) based in the following locations: Birmingham; Bristol; Cambridge; Devon; Edinburgh; Glasgow and Strathclyde; Liverpool; London; Manchester and Salford; Northumbria; Oxford; Southampton; Sussex; Wales, and Yorkshire. Each Unit has an establishment of 51 students. The purpose of the URNUs is to instil an understanding of the Naval Service in students, both to facilitate a Naval career for those who chose one and so that those who go into civilian employment become positive advocates of the Naval Service. This is delivered by a syllabus that includes Naval core values and ethos; command, leadership and management skills; public speaking; and ceremonial, seamanship, engineering and navigation training.

Home Office: HMS Mersey

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether officials from the Home Department have been deployed aboard HMS Mersey assigned to patrol duties in the English Channel.

Mark Lancaster: This issue is a matter for the Home Office.

Army: Officers

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the number of Army (a) two star, (b) three star and (c) four star ranks who were privately educated.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Within the Army there are currently 62 Regular and Reserve Officers serving at two star, three star and four star ranks. Of these, where record of school attended is held centrally*, we can confirm that 30 were privately educated. A breakdown by rank is provided below: RankAttended a Private School (rounded to the nearest 5Major General (2 Star)15Lieutenant General (3 Star)10General (4 Star)~ * Records are held centrally for 50 of the 62 Generals. These figures are single Service estimates and are not official statistics produced by Defence Statistics. For presentational and data protection purposes the figures have been rounded. “~” fewer than five.

Armed Forces: Fossil Fuels

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's 2012-2015 business plan, whether it is still his Department's objective to reduce armed forces fossil fuel consumption by 18 per cent by 2020-21 from a 2009-10 baseline.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has already met the 18% reduction in fossil fuels consumption objective as set out in the Department's Business Plan 2012-15. The MOD is now continuing to look for further fuel efficiencies. Information on the target and further efficiencies is available online within Section 3 of both the current Sustainable MOD Annual Report 2017-18 and the 2016-17 Report.

Department for Work and Pensions

Personal Independence Payment

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have died while waiting for their personal independence payment assessment to be completed; and what conditions those people died from.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who applied for personal independence payment died within six months of making their application.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have died while waiting for their eligibility for personal independence payment to be determined, and what the main disabling condition was of those people.

Sarah Newton: Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is claimed by people with a range of health conditions and disabilities, many of which are degenerative or life limiting. All benefit claims can be made under the special rules for people who are terminally ill which will mean that they are fast tracked. These are currently being cleared within 6 working days for new claimants to PIP. The Department would encourage all claimants with a terminal illness to let the department know and to apply using the special rules. The cause of death of PIP claimants is not collated centrally by the Department. Over 3.6 million applications to PIP were made between April 2013 and 30th April 2018. Of these:4,760 claimants1 died between their case being referred to, and returned from, an assessment provider;73,800 claimants died within 6 months of their claim being registered; and17,070 claimants died after registering but prior to the DWP making a decision on their claim. Details of the claimant’s primary medical condition, where recorded, are in the accompanying spreadsheet. Notes:These figures include claims made under both Normal Rules and Special Rules for the Terminally Ill and include new claims and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to PIP reassessment claims.1These figures only include claimants whose case has been referred to an assessment provider and who died before their case was returned from an assessment provider to DWP. All new claims and DLA to PIP reassessment claims which reach the assessment stage are referred to an assessment provider.The point of application is taken as the day the claimant registered a claim to PIP as recorded on the PIP computer system.This is unpublished data from the PIP computer system’s (PIP CS) management information. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision.Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.Figures cover claims made up to and including 30th April 2018.GB only. Under the Social Security (Notification of Deaths) Regulations 2012 and s125 of Social Security Administration Act 1992 date of death is provided to the Department for all registered deaths. Additionally next of kin also provide information on the date of death of an individual and this information is used appropriately in the administration of Departmental benefits. 



Primary conditions spreadsheet
(Excel SpreadSheet, 17.44 KB)

Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the financial effect of enabling registered healthcare professionals to make clinical judgments about whether illnesses are terminal without using the six-month time limit.

Sarah Newton: No such assessment has been made. However, the Department has recently engaged with leading clinicians to discuss the current wording and guidance used in the benefit system around terminal illness, with the aim of improving understanding of the Special Rules process and to consider proposed suggestions for improvement. We will also shortly be engaging with disability charities, such as the Motor Neurone Disease Association and others to help inform this work.

Department for Work and Pensions: Brexit

Esther McVey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much funding from the public purse has been allocated to her Department for financial year 2018-19 for planning for the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and how much of that funding has been spent.

Alok Sharma: No additional funding was allocated to DWP by HM Treasury for EU Exit preparations for the 2018/19 financial year. For 2019/20, DWP has been allocated £15 million for EU Exit preparations. A full breakdown of the £1.5 billion of additional funding HM Treasury announced at Autumn Budget 2017 for 2018/19 can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS540, laid on 13 March 2018 (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-03-13/HCWS540/). For 2019/20, DWP’s allocation can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1205, laid on 18 December 2018, which outlines funding for departments for 2019/20. (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-12-18/HCWS1205/).

Personal Independence Payment: Blaenau Gwent

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2018 to Question 195064, what the maximum length of time was between the date of a successful First Tier Tribunal personal independence payment decision and arrears being paid for claimants in Blaenau Gwent during 2017-18.

Sarah Newton: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Personal Independence Payment: Inverclyde

Ronnie Cowan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Written Statement of 20 December 2018 on Personal Independence Payment, Official Report HCWS1224, what estimate her Department has made of (a) the number of claimants in Inverclyde that have received personal independence payments arrears and (b) the total amount paid to those claimants in the latest period for which figures are available.

Sarah Newton: We are not in a position to provide volumes at detailed geographic breakdowns, as the volumes at this level would be small and therefore disclosive. We are working at pace to ensure that claimants receive any additional entitlement to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) as soon as possible.

Offenders: Social Security Benefits

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many offenders sentenced in 2018 received a benefits sanction within the previous six months of their sentencing.

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many offenders received a benefits sanction within six months of the end of their sentence in 2018.

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many prisoners released in 2018 applied for welfare support (a) within seven days and (b) after seven days of their release.

Justin Tomlinson: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur a disproportionate cost. Whilst Department for Work and Pensions systems do not currently collate data to identify an (ex)offender in a way that allows robust reporting, DWP is committed to gathering better data to support claimants with complex needs and has prioritised this as part of the wider work programme for Universal Credit.

Jobcentres: Travel

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of public transport provision on rates of missed job centre plus appointments.

Alok Sharma: Claimants are able to contact their local Jobcentre via the phone to notify of any difficulties they may have in attending appointments. In addition Universal Credit claimants can use their online journal to send a message direct to their Work Coach or contact the UC helpline to speak to a Case Manager. Claimants who live in remote areas and who are unable to attend the local Jobcentre because of travel restrictions are supported through digital channels, via the phone and where appropriate postal signing. This enables claimants to continue to engage with us, receive appropriate support and satisfy the conditions of their personalised Claimant Commitment when they are unable to attend their Jobcentre. In addition we provide outreach services in partnership with national and local organisations to deliver Jobcentre services in a partner’s premises. Local jobcentres have the flexibility to work alongside organisations to help meet the needs of their communities, helping our most vulnerable, at risk, claimants to access the support they need If a claimant misses an appointment due to public transport difficulties, this will be taken into account in deciding good reason. Sanctions are only used in a small percentage of cases, and that is when people fail to meet their agreed commitments without good reason. When considering whether a sanction is appropriate, a Decision Maker will take all the claimant’s individual circumstances, including any health conditions or disabilities, domestic emergencies and any evidence of good reason, into account before deciding whether a sanction is warranted. No such assessment has been undertaken.

Universal Credit: Birmingham

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the expected decrease in the number of people who will be migrated onto universal credit in Birmingham in (a) 2019 and (b) 2020, following her announcement to revise the rollout of that system.

Alok Sharma: The requested information is not available for publication by constituency. We know that approximately 6.5 million households will be receiving Universal Credit in steady state. From July 2019 through to 2023, approximately 2 million households will move onto Universal Credit from their existing benefits via the Managed Migration process.Universal Credit is proceeding as planned, with no change to the timetable of completing managed migration by December 2023. We will start with very small numbers in 2019 and will report on the findings from the pilot before bringing forward legislation to extend the Managed Migration processes.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support in-work progression by universal credit claimants.

Alok Sharma: A key transformational element of Universal Credit is that it gives us the opportunity to support claimants to progress in work and earn more. We have already completed a large-scale randomised controlled trial which ran between April 2015 and March 2018, testing the application of varied levels of support and conditionality for current in-work claimants. While this was a crucial first step to help us to understand what works for this group, we are continuing to build a strong evidence base to understand how we can make a difference for this group. At Autumn Budget 2017, we secured £8m of targeted funding to develop a programme of research, Proofs of Concept and trials to develop and test our in-work services. An important first stage is research to better understand the future in-work cohort in Universal Credit. This will show, amongst other things, what the key barriers to progression might be, and how personal and household circumstances may influence a claimant’s ability to progress, ensuring DWP can design and provide the most effective in-work support.

Universal Credit

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 23 October to Question 182843 on Universal Credit, if she will publish he Department's review of research carried out by organisations including the Trussell Trust on food bank use.

Justin Tomlinson: The evidence that we have reviewed to date is already published and examples can be accessed through the following links :- The Trussell Trust (2018) ‘Left Behind: Is Universal Credit Truly Universal?’https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/trusselltrust-documents/Trussell-Trust-Left-Behind-2018.pdf The Trussell Trust (2018) ‘The next stage of Universal Credit: Moving onto the new benefit system and foodbank use’https://www.trusselltrust.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/The-next-stage-of-Universal-Credit-Report-Final.pdf Loopstra, R., and Lalor, D. (2017) ‘Financial insecurity, food insecurity, and disability: the profile of people receiving emergency food assistance from the Trussell Trust Foodbank Network in Britain’https://trusselltrust.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/OU_Report_final_01_08_online.pdf

Universal Credit: Disqualification

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the number of hardship payment awards to sanctioned claimants of universal credit was in each conditionality category for (a) live and (b) full service claimants in each month since August 2015.

Alok Sharma: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Universal Credit: Telephone Services

Danielle Rowley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 November 2018 to Question 185101, if she will publish the agent led processes and supportive lines available to universal credit helpline staff to assist claimants.

Alok Sharma: Agent Led Processes (ALP’s) are low level business processes, designed to work as part of the Universal Credit service. They are embedded into the service and do not stand alone as separate guidance or instructions to staff. The “Digital Channel Product” is a guide which has been developed for Service Centre staff to use during telephone calls, to encourage claimants to check and use their online account as an alternative method of contacting the Department. The product gives staff some suggested ways to introduce a discussion regarding the online digital service with claimants. In addition to this product, call handlers have access to comprehensive Universal Credit guidance. Universal Credit guidance is published in the House of Commons Library and the Department is committed to refreshing this at regular intervals.

Members: Correspondence

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Glasgow East, reference DL2143, dated 20 November 2018.

Sarah Newton: I replied to the hon. Member on 7 January 2019.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to her oral contribution of 7 January 2019, Official Report, column 3, what discussions she has had with the Leader of the House on what date in 2020 the planned vote on managed migration to universal credit will take place.

Alok Sharma: The Department has, in a Written Ministerial Statement today, set out a revised legislative plan for Universal Credit managed migration regulations. This change provides the reassurance Parliament has requested, that we will report on our findings from the pilot before bringing forward legislation to extend managed migration. This legislation will be subject to normal Parliamentary processes and any Parliamentary activity in relation to the revised regulations will be for parliament to consider.

Universal Credit: Disability

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in receipt of the severe disability premium under the legacy social security system were moved onto universal credit in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the written statement of 7 June 2018 on Universal Credit, HCWS745, how many people in receipt of the severe disability premium have been naturally migrated onto universal credit since 7 June 2018.

Sarah Newton: This information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Personal Independence Payment: Newport East

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many appeals for personal independence payment were made in Newport East constituency in (a) 2017-18 and (b) since April 2018; and what proportion of those appeals were successful.

Sarah Newton: Since PIP was introduced 3.7m decisions have been made in Great Britain up to September 2018, of these 10% have been appealed and 5% have been overturned.Breakdowns of the number of appeals completed in relation to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and the number and proportion of these where the decision was overturned in each parliamentary constituency in Wales (including Newport East) can be found in the tables below. These figures include all PIP appeals; so they will contain appeals where claimants appealed for a higher PIP award as well as those appeals against a disallowance decision.Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. Appeals data taken from the DWP PIP computer system’s management information. Therefore this appeal data may differ from that held by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service for various reasons such as delays in data recording and other methodological differences in collating and preparing statistics. The Parliamentary Constituency geography relates to the origin of the claim (i.e. derived from claimant’s postcode) rather than the location of where the tribunal was. Decisions overturned at appeal may include a number of appeals that have been lapsed (which is where DWP changed the decision after an appeal was lodged but before it was heard at Tribunal). Table 1: the number of PIP appeals and the number and proportion of these where the decision was overturned in each Welsh constituency in 2017-18. ConstituencyNumber of appealsNumber of appeals where the decision was overturnedProportion of appeals where the decision was overturnedAberavon31024079%Aberconwy503074%Alyn and Deeside805064%Arfon605070%Blaenau Gwent17013079%Brecon and Radnorshire605072%Bridgend1109081%Caerphilly14011075%Cardiff Central806075%Cardiff North706086%Cardiff South and Penarth15012077%Cardiff West1209071%Carmarthen East and Dinefwr13010078%Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire1108071%Ceredigion906070%Clwyd South1209073%Clwyd West807080%Cynon Valley1209082%Delyn705076%Dwyfor Meirionnydd504075%Gower14011074%Islwyn15011074%Llanelli18014078%Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney14010073%Monmouth1209074%Montgomeryshire202070%Neath33024072%Newport East16012077%Newport West19015079%Ogmore1108070%Pontypridd604067%Preseli Pembrokeshire1109085%Rhondda1208070%Swansea East26020076%Swansea West24019078%Torfaen22017078%Vale of Clwyd13011079%Vale of Glamorgan1108071%Wrexham1106061%Ynys Mon705073%  Table 2: the number of PIP appeals and the number and proportion of these where the decision was overturned in each Welsh constituency between April and September 2018, the latest date for which statistics have been published. ConstituencyNumber of appealsNumber of appeals where the decision was overturnedProportion of appeals where the decision was overturnedAberavon806072%Aberconwy201061%Alyn and Deeside302059%Arfon302074%Blaenau Gwent706076%Brecon and Radnorshire201048%Bridgend504081%Caerphilly907081%Cardiff Central604078%Cardiff North403086%Cardiff South and Penarth806070%Cardiff West806070%Carmarthen East and Dinefwr403072%Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire303081%Ceredigion403065%Clwyd South403072%Clwyd West403069%Cynon Valley706076%Delyn303082%Dwyfor Meirionnydd201078%Gower302066%Islwyn705072%Llanelli403077%Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney807084%Monmouth403085%Montgomeryshire202089%Neath705069%Newport East706080%Newport West907079%Ogmore504080%Pontypridd403061%Preseli Pembrokeshire302072%Rhondda605078%Swansea East504067%Swansea West503060%Torfaen1007075%Vale of Clwyd806080%Vale of Glamorgan705079%Wrexham403081%Ynys Mon302073%

Housing Benefit: Wales

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the amount her Department has spent on housing benefit in each local authority area in Wales in each year for which data is available.

Justin Tomlinson: Housing Benefit expenditure by Local Authority from 1996/97 to 2017/18 is published on GOV.uk at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/741593/hb-and-ctb-by-la-2017-18.ods

Universal Credit

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people claiming employment and support allowance have been migrated onto universal credit due to an unsuccessful work capability assessment.

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many employment and support allowance claimants who have appealed their unsuccessful work capability assessment have been transferred onto universal credit.

Sarah Newton: The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Universal Credit

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 March 2018 to Question 130822 on Universal Credit, how many universal credit claimants have a level of deduction from the standard allowance (a) at the 40 per cent and (b) above the 40 per cent level.

Alok Sharma: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Universal Credit

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support people making universal credit applications who do not have access to a computer.

Alok Sharma: Universal Credit is a digital service. The Universal Credit Full Service Claimant Survey (published on 8 June 2018) shows that 98% of claimants made their claim online, with 96% saying they had regular access to the internet.If a claimant needs more intensive or specific support to make their claim, face-to-face and other help is available through our current Universal Support Assisted Digital Service offer, which provides bespoke help, support and skills for claimants to make and maintain their digital account online. Universal Credit has been designed with accessibility in mind and we are committed to providing personalised support for all claimants. All jobcentres across the country have Wi-Fi and computers available for claimants to access the internet. For those that are still unable to access or use digital services, or are not able to travel, assistance to make and maintain their claim is available via the Freephone Universal Credit helpline. In exceptional circumstances, a home visit can be arranged to support a claimant in making and maintaining their claim.

Personal Independence Payment: Wales

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many appeals for personal independence payment were made in each parliamentary constituency in Wales in (a) 2017-18 and (b) since April 2018; and what proportion of those appeals were successful.

Sarah Newton: Since PIP was introduced 3.7m decisions have been made in Great Britain up to September 2018, of these 10% have been appealed and 5% have been overturned.Breakdowns of the number of appeals completed in relation to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and the number and proportion of these where the decision was overturned in each parliamentary constituency in Wales (including Newport East) can be found in the tables below. These figures include all PIP appeals; so they will contain appeals where claimants appealed for a higher PIP award as well as those appeals against a disallowance decision.Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. Appeals data taken from the DWP PIP computer system’s management information. Therefore this appeal data may differ from that held by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service for various reasons such as delays in data recording and other methodological differences in collating and preparing statistics. The Parliamentary Constituency geography relates to the origin of the claim (i.e. derived from claimant’s postcode) rather than the location of where the tribunal was. Decisions overturned at appeal may include a number of appeals that have been lapsed (which is where DWP changed the decision after an appeal was lodged but before it was heard at Tribunal). Table 1: the number of PIP appeals and the number and proportion of these where the decision was overturned in each Welsh constituency in 2017-18. ConstituencyNumber of appealsNumber of appeals where the decision was overturnedProportion of appeals where the decision was overturnedAberavon31024079%Aberconwy503074%Alyn and Deeside805064%Arfon605070%Blaenau Gwent17013079%Brecon and Radnorshire605072%Bridgend1109081%Caerphilly14011075%Cardiff Central806075%Cardiff North706086%Cardiff South and Penarth15012077%Cardiff West1209071%Carmarthen East and Dinefwr13010078%Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire1108071%Ceredigion906070%Clwyd South1209073%Clwyd West807080%Cynon Valley1209082%Delyn705076%Dwyfor Meirionnydd504075%Gower14011074%Islwyn15011074%Llanelli18014078%Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney14010073%Monmouth1209074%Montgomeryshire202070%Neath33024072%Newport East16012077%Newport West19015079%Ogmore1108070%Pontypridd604067%Preseli Pembrokeshire1109085%Rhondda1208070%Swansea East26020076%Swansea West24019078%Torfaen22017078%Vale of Clwyd13011079%Vale of Glamorgan1108071%Wrexham1106061%Ynys Mon705073%  Table 2: the number of PIP appeals and the number and proportion of these where the decision was overturned in each Welsh constituency between April and September 2018, the latest date for which statistics have been published. ConstituencyNumber of appealsNumber of appeals where the decision was overturnedProportion of appeals where the decision was overturnedAberavon806072%Aberconwy201061%Alyn and Deeside302059%Arfon302074%Blaenau Gwent706076%Brecon and Radnorshire201048%Bridgend504081%Caerphilly907081%Cardiff Central604078%Cardiff North403086%Cardiff South and Penarth806070%Cardiff West806070%Carmarthen East and Dinefwr403072%Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire303081%Ceredigion403065%Clwyd South403072%Clwyd West403069%Cynon Valley706076%Delyn303082%Dwyfor Meirionnydd201078%Gower302066%Islwyn705072%Llanelli403077%Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney807084%Monmouth403085%Montgomeryshire202089%Neath705069%Newport East706080%Newport West907079%Ogmore504080%Pontypridd403061%Preseli Pembrokeshire302072%Rhondda605078%Swansea East504067%Swansea West503060%Torfaen1007075%Vale of Clwyd806080%Vale of Glamorgan705079%Wrexham403081%Ynys Mon302073%

Children: Maintenance

Sandy Martin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect on benefit recipients of missed Child Maintenance Service payments where the level of benefit has been reduced due those payments being awarded.

Justin Tomlinson: Child Maintenance payments are fully disregarded when assessing entitlement to benefits, as such there is no effect on a person’s benefit payments when Child Maintenance payments are not made.

Children: Maintenance

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the amount of debt to be written-off from arrears accrued under the Child Support Agency because parents had not responded to (a) letters and (b) telephone calls within 60 days.

Justin Tomlinson: The estimate can be found on page 24 of the Child Maintenance Compliance and Arrears Strategy consultation document which was published in December 2017 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/667033/child-maintenance-compliance-arrears-consultation.pdf

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Brexit

Esther McVey: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding from the public purse has been allocated to his Department for financial year 2018-19 for planning for the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and how much of that funding has been spent.

David Rutley: HM Treasury has already allocated over £4.2 billion of additional funding to departments and the devolved administrations for preparations for leaving the EU so far. This includes the £1.5 billion of additional funding HM Treasury announced at Autumn Budget 2017 for 2018/19. A full breakdown of how this was allocated to departments can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS540, laid on 13 March 2018. This money will be paid out in Supplementary Estimates 18/19 later this financial year: https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-03-13/HCWS540/ Defra is effectively deploying its allocated funding to prepare and deliver its ambitious programme of EU departure activities in readiness for all scenarios.

Game: Birds

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information the Animal and Plant Health Agency holds on the estimated number of game birds on game farm premises as supplied by owners of those game farms to that agency.

David Rutley: The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) does not hold accurate or reliable figures on the number of birds on game farm premises. At the time of registration the owner/keeper of the game birds will normally supply APHA with an estimate of the stock numbers likely to be held on the game bird farm premises. The figures below are based upon information supplied to APHA at the time of registration by the owner/keeper of the game bird farm premises which date from 2008 to 2018. Number of game birds (estimated usual stock numbers)Registered game farm premises0 – 20,000420,000 – 50,00030050,000 +143 APHA does not maintain year on year statistics for game bird farms.

Game: Birds

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which organisation or Department holds data on the mortality rates for game bird farms.

David Rutley: The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), on behalf of Defra, carry out work in relation to the import/export of game birds; as well as carrying out statutory animal health inspections, as required, for game bird farms. However, APHA do not collect data on game bird mortality rates and are not aware of any other Defra agencies that hold this information.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Staff

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff were employed in his Department on (a) 20 December 2018 and (b) 23 June 2016.

George Eustice: The total number of staff employed by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 31 May 2016, 30 June 2016 and 30 November 2018 are shown below; Month/YearHeadcount31 May 20161,69330 June 20161,69330 November 20184,168 Staff in Post Data is only run as at the end of each month in order to provide information for published statutory returns. The data provided is in line with the figures published at Data.gov.uk - https://data.gov.uk/dataset/workforce-management-information-defra. Along with other public sector employers, the department provides data to the Office of National statistics for the “Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey”. The most recent publication was 11 December showing data as at the end of September 2018 and can be found here - https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/bulletins/publicsectoremployment/september2018 . ONS data for earlier reference dates can be found here – https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/bulletins/publicsectoremployment/previousReleases The Staff in Post data has to go through a lengthy resource intensive verification process to eliminate a high proportion of errors. To provide data as at 20 December would incur disproportionate costs.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Infrastructure

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many infrastructure contracts overseen by his Department have been let with the stipulation that a Project Bank Account must be applied in the last year.

George Eustice: The government’s infrastructure contracts make provision for the use of Project Bank Accounts (PBAs), and departments have committed to use PBAs on all infrastructure projects unless there are compelling reasons not to do so. Due to the range of infrastructure projects undertaken by government, the approaches taken will vary. Ten infrastructure contracts overseen by the Environment Agency in the last year have been let with the stipulation that a PBA must be used.

Horses: Animal Welfare

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of (a) restricting the legal amount of time a horse can be tethered to 24 hours and (b) banning the tethering of horses on public land that may pose a risk to both that animal or the public.

David Rutley: Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (the 2006 Act), it is an offence to fail to provide for an animal’s welfare or to cause it any unnecessary suffering. The 2006 Act is backed up by the statutory Code of Practice for the Welfare of Horses, Ponies, Donkeys and Their Hybrids (the Code). The Code provides owners and keepers with information on how to meet the welfare needs of their horses and includes a specific section on how to tether a horse. Local authorities have powers under the 2006 Act to investigate allegations of cruelty or poor welfare. In addition, welfare organisations such as the RPSCA and World Horse Welfare (WHW) may also investigate such matters. If anyone is concerned about the way a horse has been tethered, they should report the matter either to the relevant local authority, or to the RSPCA or WHW who can investigate. If a horse is found not to be tethered appropriately, this could lead to a prosecution under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. I consider that the existing legislation and guidance in place in respect of tethering horses ensures their welfare needs are met appropriately.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Vaccination

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to examine whether the use of the BCG vaccine on badgers has reduced the incidence of cattle-borne bovine TB.

George Eustice: Defra has funded research to model the impact of vaccination of badgers with BCG on the incidence of tuberculosis in cattle, and the Animal and Plant Health Agency has published an analysis of the effect of badger vaccination on the incidence of tuberculosis in cattle in the Badger Vaccine Deployment Project area. Professor Sir Charles Godfray’s TB Strategy Review report, published in 2018, considered the role of badger vaccination and the Government is currently considering its response. For further information, please use the following links: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0039250 www.gov.uk/government/publications/bovine-tb-analysis-of-the-effect-of-badger-vaccination-on-incidence-of-tb-in-cattle www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-strategy-for-achieving-bovine-tuberculosis-free-status-for-england-2018-review

Beverage Containers: Recycling

Steve Double: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 31 October 2018 to Question 183372 on Beverage Containers: Recycling, if he will take account of the outcome of the Scottish consultation on a future deposit return system when designing such a scheme for England.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Yes.

Packaging: Waste

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to limit the use of excess packaging by online retailers.

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent estimate his Department has made of the quantity of excessive packaging by online retailers which is going to landfill.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Essential Requirements Regulations already require producers to ensure that the packaging they use is the minimum to ensure safety, hygiene and meet consumer expectations. The Regulations make no distinction between online and high street retailers. If anyone receives a product they believe to be “over packaged”, they should report it to Trading Standards who are responsible for enforcing these regulations. As part of the recently published Resources and Waste Strategy we have committed to exploring changes to the packaging producer responsibility scheme. This will include a review of the effectiveness of the Essential Requirements Regulations. We have not made any assessment of the amount of “excessive” packaging going to landfill.

Home Office

Immigrants: Detainees

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many adults who have been detained for immigration purposes since they were under 18 years of age are still detained.

Caroline Nokes: The underlying datasets for the most recent published figures, show that of the adults detained as at 30 September 2018 none entered detention while under 18 years of age.Information on people in detention, broken down by quarter, is available in the detention tables in the latest releases of ‘Immigration Statistics, year ending September 2018’, available from the Home Office website at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/758249/detention-sep-2018-tables.ods

Police: Migrant Workers

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether EU nationals who are police officers in the UK will be entitled to hold a warrant card in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Caroline Nokes: The Government has been clear that, in an unlikely no deal scenario, the UK will honour its commitment to all EU citizens, and their family members resident by 29 March 2019, that they will be able to remain in the UK.This will be done through the EU Settlement Scheme. EU citizens resident in the UK by 29 March 2019 will have the same access to work in future as they do now, including the ability to work as police officers.

Home Office: Brexit

Esther McVey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding from the public purse has been allocated to his Department for financial year 2018-19 for planning for the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and how much of that funding has been spent.

Caroline Nokes: For the financial year 2018-19, the department received an allocation of £395 million from HM Treasury to continue preparing for the UK to leave the EU. This amount was the same for a deal and a no deal scenario. The Department is forecasting to spend all of its allocation.

Immigration

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to The UK’s future skills-based immigration system White Paper, published on 19 December 2018, how low-risk countries be determined.

Caroline Nokes: To determine low-risk countries as set out in the UK’s Future Skills-Based Immigration System White Paper, the Home Office will consider a range of relevant factors such as returns agreements, reciprocal mobility agreements, cooperation on border security and prosperity. These measures will be reviewed regularly and further information will be provided in due course.

Migrant Workers: Temporary Employment

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to The UK’s future skills-based immigration system White Paper, published on 19 December 2018, whether there will be a numerical cap on temporary short-term workers.

Caroline Nokes: As per the Government’s White Paper: The UK’s future skills based immigration system, we may impose a limit on the total number of people who could come under the route if evidence suggests that the route should be capped.

Immigration: EEA Nationals

Rosie Duffield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the Government will seek to ensure children from EEA countries living in the UK will be able to secure settled status that on the same terms as children from EU countries after the UK leaves the EU.

Caroline Nokes: The Government announced on 20 December that the UK has reached a separation agreement with the European Economic Area (EEA) Economic Free Trade Area (EFTA) countries which covers citizens’ rights and broadly mirrors in that respect the Withdrawal Agreement reached with the European Union. The separation agreement protects the rights of approximately 15,000 EEA EFTA nationals living in the UK and 17,000 UK nationals living in the EEA EFTA countries.EEA EFTA nationals, including children, who want to stay beyond the end of the planned implementation period will be able to apply to the UK’s Settlement Scheme in the same way as EU citizens from 30 March 2019.

Alcoholic Drinks: Minimum Prices

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what meetings (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have had in 2018 with representatives of (i) the alcohol industry and (ii) public health advocates to discuss minimum unit pricing for alcohol.

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria he will use to decide whether to include a minimum unit pricing for alcohol in the new joint alcohol strategy.

Victoria Atkins: The introduction of minimum unit pricing in England remains under review pending the impact of its implementation in Scotland.Home Office ministers have held no meetings with representatives of the alcohol industry and public health advocates to discuss minimum unit pricing for alcohol. However, Home Office officials have engaged throughout 2018 with a range of stakeholders as part of our alcohol policy work , including the health sector, academics, the voluntary sector and representatives of the alcohol industry and the licensed trade.

Immigration: Skilled Workers

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when his Department plans to make an announcement on the completed review of Teir 1 (General) migrants cases that have been refused under paragraph 322(5).

Caroline Nokes: I refer the Hon Member to the statement I made on 22 November (HCWS1102).

Members: Correspondence

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Under-Secretary of State for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability plans to respond to the Right hon. Member for Delyn on the rountable on retail crime held on 11 December 2018.

Victoria Atkins: I have considered the proposals raised at the roundtable on retail crime held on 11 December 2018 and am committed to providing the Rt. Hon Member for Delyn a response before the tabling deadline for Lords amendments to the Offensive Weapons Bill.

Home Office: Brexit

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much his Department is spending on a public information campaign to prepare people for the potential effects of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Caroline Nokes: Home Office has a duty to inform citizens and businesses about how leaving the EU might affect them, and to advise on the steps they may need to take to prepare for EU Exit.Home Office is part of the cross-departmental public information campaign to help achieve this, including campaign activity focused on passport renewal and EU citizens’ rights. Over the coming weeks, we will be using a range of channels to direct UK citizens, businesses, EU citizens living in the UK and UK nationals living in the EU to a dedicated area on GOV.UK at Gov.uk/euexit.Information on the costs associated with this campaign will be released in due course as part of normal data transparency releases.

Immigration: Travel Requirements

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many beneficiaries of international protection were issued with travel documents by the UK in 2018.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office publishes data on the number of travel documents issued to those people who are not British and cannot use or get a passport . Information correct to August 2017 can be accessed via: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-transparency-data-november-2018 Table TD01. Information regarding eligibility for travel documents can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/apply-home-office-travel-document.

Department of Health and Social Care

Life Expectancy

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of trends in life expectancy.

Steve Brine: Public Health England (PHE) was commissioned by the Department in 2018 to review trends in life expectancy and mortality in England. PHE’s review was released on 11 December 2018 and is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/recent-trends-in-mortality-in-england-review-and-data-packs The review summarises the findings from the commission and suggests further work that could be undertaken, by PHE or others. It provides a review of official data to advance understanding of the trends in life expectancy and mortality in England, as well as more detail on specific population groups and specific causes of death, including insight into possible explanations for the trends observed.

Babylon Health

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent meetings he has had with Babylon Healthcare.

Steve Brine: My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has met Babylon Healthcare on two occasions including at a technology roundtable attended by various health technology companies on 18 July 2018 and at their offices on 13 September 2018.

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he plans to publish an alcohol workforce strategy to accompany the alcohol strategy.

Steve Brine: The Department of Health and Social Care and Home Office officials are continuing to hold discussions on the development of a new joint alcohol strategy and further announcements will be made in due course. There are no plans at this stage to publish an alcohol workforce strategy alongside it.

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) effectiveness and (b) cost-effectiveness of alcohol care teams in hospitals.

Steve Brine: Public Health England (PHE) assessed alcohol care teams (ACTs) in hospitals in the guidance ‘Local health and care planning: menu of preventative interventions’, which supports local planning processes and informs local commissioning strategies and plans. PHE found ACTs to be an effective and cost-effective option for National Health Service sustainability and transformation partnerships to consider helping reduce the harm to individuals, including to those whose alcohol use impacts most heavily on NHS health services, such as repeat hospital admissions. The guidance is available at the following link: www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-health-and-care-planning-menu-of-preventative-interventions

Clinical Commissioning Groups: Finance

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of Clinical Commissioning Groups which have been placed into financial directions by NHS England in each year since 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Brine: NHS England is able to apply directions to a clinical commissioning group (CCG) when it is satisfied that a CCG is failing or is at risk of failing to discharge its functions. This includes but is not limited to a CCG’s financial performance and management. The following table shows the number of CCGs that have been directed since CCGs were authorised in 20131. YearNumber of CCGs with directions2013/14-2014/1512015/1652016/17262017/18132018/192Total47Note:1One CCG has been directed to enable it to support other failing CCGs, not due to its own failure. Therefore, it is not included in these numbers.

Breast Cancer: Screening

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the oral statement by the Secretary of State for Health on 2 May 2018 on Breast Cancer Screening, Official Report, column 315 and the report entitled, The Independent Breast Screening Review 2018, published in December 2018, what the evidential basis was for his Department's estimate that 450,000 women were affected.

Steve Brine: The figure of 450,000 was the best available estimate of the maximum number of women potentially affected from Public Health England’s analysis of the data provided at the time by NHS Digital. Further analysis of more complete data took place in May 2018 and as a result the written ministerial statement on 4 June 2018 provided a lower maximum figure.

Diabetes and Obesity

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to meet the zero per cent prevalence increase target for obesity and diabetes by 2025, recommended by the World Health Organisation in its report: Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs 2013-2020.

Steve Brine: We published the second chapter of our world-leading childhood obesity plan in June 2018. This builds on the real progress we have made since the publication of chapter one in 2016, particularly in reformulation of the products our children eat and drink most. Chapter two sets a bold ambition to halve childhood obesity by 2030 and significantly reduce the gap in obesity between children from the most and least deprived areas by 2030. We have reiterated this ambition in our vision document ‘Prevention is better than cure’ published in November 2018. Many of the key measures in both chapters of our childhood obesity plan will have an impact on tackling obesity across all age groups. These include the soft drinks industry levy, sugar reduction and wider calorie reformulation programme, restricting promotions and calorie labelling in restaurants which will improve our eating habits and reduce the amount of sugar we consume. ‘Healthier You: The NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme’ started in 2016 and has reported that 280,763 individuals at risk of developing type 2 have been referred into the service and 123,249 individuals have now had an initial assessment. In 2018/19 the Programme achieved full national roll out, with services now available to people in every sustainability and transformation partnership in England, making England the first country in the world to achieve full geographical coverage. It was recently announced that NHS England intends to double the capacity of Programme to up to 200,000 people per annum by 2023/24. NHS England is incorporating the ability to deliver digital prevention services alongside face to face services to expand the range of options for supporting people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Health Services: East Midlands

Ben Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the resilience of healthcare providers in the East Midlands during the winter period.

Stephen Hammond: The Department is supporting the National Health Service to prepare as robustly as possible for the coming winter and has been working closely with NHS England and NHS Improvement to ensure all trusts have plans in place. Providers and commissioners across the East Midlands have been working closely together to prepare for the winter period, supported by regional teams in NHS Improvement and NHS England. The Department has invested an additional £420 million this winter aimed at increasing the resilience and capacity of healthcare providers, including in the East Midlands. Moreover, the region is also benefiting from extended general practitioner hours to give patients more choice and take pressure off emergency departments, as well as the extensive national campaigns undertaken to make people aware of NHS 111 services and pharmacy services and encouraging the public to use the most appropriate NHS service for their needs.

Drugs: Refrigerators

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the locations at which the refrigerators purchased by his Department for the preservation of medicines as part of contingency planning in the event the UK leaves the EU without a deal will be stored.

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many refrigerators his Department plans to purchase for each forthcoming calendar month as part of contingency planning in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of purchasing refrigerators for the preservation of medicines as part of contingency planning for the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has for the use of refrigerators purchased for the storage of medicines in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal after a deal has been secured.

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which medicines his Department plans to store in the refrigerators purchased by his Department as part of contingency planning for UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many of the refrigerators purchased by his Department for the purposes of storing medicines in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal were manufactured in the UK.

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much additional refrigerated storage space has his Department purchased for the storing of medicines in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to the public purse is of the additional storage space purchased by his Department for the storage of medicines in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the time period is for the additional storage space purchased by his Department for storing medicines in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Stephen Hammond: As part of the Department’s ‘no deal’ European Union exit contingency planning, a tender process to procure additional warehouse space built in the mainland United Kingdom to store stockpiled medicines, including ambient, refrigerated and controlled drug storage, was undertaken in October 2018. Contract agreements for storage have recently been signed or will be signed imminently. This is expected to cost the Government in the low tens of millions of pounds with the refrigerated storage expected to cost circa £1 million. The contracts will cover additional capacity including 53,000 pallets of ambient storage, 5,000 pallets of refrigerated storage and 850 pallets of controlled drug storage. We have agreed funding on the condition that the additional medicine warehousing capacity is in place in time to accommodate stockpiled medicines by the beginning of February 2019, lasting for a period of between 12 and 18 months. For security reasons the locations of the additional warehouse capacity will not be published. The Department’s funding for additional warehouse capacity is on the condition that it is exclusively for the storage of additional stockpiles of prescription only and pharmacy medicines that come into the UK from or via the EU. The Department recognises that through our ‘no deal’ EU exit medicines contingency programme. We are requesting sensitive commercial information from pharmaceutical suppliers. To reassure participating companies, we have committed to treating all information received confidentially, securely and to using it only for the purposes of the Department’s programme. That means not introducing information about specific medicines into the public domain. As with many contracts involving capital investment, the Department will be liable for some capital costs already incurred by the contractors in the event of a deal being approved by parliament. In that scenario, warehouse providers are required to decommission the additional capacity. The Department has also put in place measures to minimise pre-committed expenditure in the event of a deal being achieved.

Air Pollution

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects Public Health England to publish its report on the effectiveness of different interventions to reduce air pollution.

Steve Brine: The Department commissioned Public Health England (PHE) to review the effectiveness of local interventions to reduce air pollution. In turn, PHE commissioned five rapid evidence reviews on interventions in transport, agriculture, industry, planning and behaviours. After reviewing these reports PHE then drafted an overarching report which is currently being finalised with the intention of publishing in 2019.

Hospitals: Admissions

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients were admitted in 2018 by each acute hospital; and how many inpatients experienced thefts by acute hospital in that same year.

Stephen Hammond: Information is not available in the format requested. Information on the numbers of inpatients who experienced thefts, by each acute hospital in 2018, is not centrally collected.

Skin Cancer

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that strategies to (a) tackle and (b) prevent skin cancers are based on the most up to date research.

Steve Brine: The NHS Long Term Plan sets out how the National Health Service plans to improve outcomes against all cancers. The Long Term Plan was developed together with stakeholders across the health and care sector, and is based on the latest evidence. Public Health England (PHE) is carrying out research to investigate the contribution of ultraviolet light (UV) to skin cancer in a comprehensive way, which aims to minimise the detrimental effects of UV while maximising the potential benefits of UV in vitamin D production and potentially in mitigating high blood pressure. Through public events, PHE informs the public of the risk and potential benefits of sunshine and practical measures to take to prevent skin cancer.

Restraint Techniques: Children and Young People

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 29 November 2018 to Question 195551 on Restraint Techniques: Children and Young People, if he will provide an update on when his Department plans to publish its response to its consultation on reducing the need for restraint and restrictive intervention.

Caroline Dinenage: Department of Health and Social Care officials have been working with Department for Education officials to refine the draft guidance following the public consultation. This has included further engagement with key stakeholders. We aim to publish the guidance in the spring.

Drugs: Shortages

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what consultation his Department has undertaken on proposals for the introduction of Serious Shortage Protocols for medicines.

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timeframe is for the introduction of Serious Shortage Protocols for medicine.

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Serious Shortage Protocols for medicines are time-limited.

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what safeguards his Department has put in place to ensure that medical Serious Shortage Protocols do not pose risk to the well-being of patients.

Steve Brine: The Department engaged with a wide range of stakeholder representative bodies about the proposals and also conducted a written consultation. The Department received 47 responses to its written consultation including from industry, patients’, pharmacists’ and doctors’ representative bodies. The responses to the consultation were broadly supportive. The Statutory Instrument is expected to be laid shortly and come into force before 29 March. Any serious shortage protocol would be developed with and signed off by clinicians. Only if clinicians deem it appropriate, an alternative quantity, strength, pharmaceutical form or medicine can be dispensed in line with the protocol. A protocol is only one of the tools that can be used to manage shortages. The Department manages shortages in collaboration with manufacturers and suppliers, the National Health Service and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and will continue to do so. A protocol would only be introduced in case of a serious shortage, if it would help manage the supply situation and if clinicians think it is appropriate, taking account of the risks to and well-being of patients and after discussion with the manufacturer and/or marketing authorisation holder. Any serious shortage would be time limited and the protocol itself would indicate the period during which it has effect.

Abortion

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the costs to the NHS per treatment of (a) a medical abortion and (b) a surgical abortion via (i) an NHS provider and (ii) a private provider.

Jackie Doyle-Price: This data is not available in the format requested. Data on reference costs is collected from National Health Service providers but the relevant return includes costs relating to stillbirths and miscarriages. No such data is collected from non-NHS providers.

Medical Equipment: Malaysia

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 20 December 2018 to Question HL12128 on Medical Equipment: Malaysia, what steps are being taken to investigate the allegations of exploitative employment practices by Malaysian manufacturers of medical gloves for use by the NHS; when that investigation will be concluded; and when the findings of that investigation will be made publicly available.

Stephen Hammond: NHS Supply Chain are engaged with the relevant glove suppliers to investigate the allegations of exploitative employment practices. The findings of these investigations will be publicly available once concluded, with due regard to applicable legal requirements and the rights of affected parties.

Patients: Personal Records

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2018 to Question 167266, how many FP17 forms have not been accepted by the NHS Business Services Authority due to concerns about the address provided for the patient.

Steve Brine: This information is not held.

Endometriosis

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the number of specialist doctors in the NHS with training and experience in dealing with endometriosis.

Jackie Doyle-Price: To support women with endometriosis, all obstetricians and gynaecologists have been trained in the diagnosis, investigation and management of the condition, which is specifically listed as a topic in the core curriculum for obstetrics and gynaecology. The latest available data (September 2018) from the National Health Service Hospital and Community Health Service monthly workforce statistics indicate that there are 5,937 full-time equivalent doctors working in obstetrics and gynaecology. Specific data are not collected to indicate whether any given doctor has training in or experience of dealing with endometriosis.

Endometriosis

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the (a) breadth and (b) quality of care provided to women with endometriosis in the NHS.

Jackie Doyle-Price: To support women with endometriosis, all obstetricians and gynaecologists have been trained in the diagnosis, investigation and management of the condition, which is specifically listed as topic in the core curriculum for obstetrics and gynaecology. The European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology has published clinical guidelines on the management of women with endometriosis to assist clinicians. In addition, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published a guideline on endometriosis which provides advice on what action to take when women with signs and symptoms of the condition first present in healthcare settings. NHS England has developed a service specification for severe endometriosis under the specialised commissioning area of complex gynaecology. NHS England expects all units providing a service to women with severe endometriosis to provide care which meets the standards they have provided. The British Society for Gynaecological Endoscopy lists 45 accredited endometriosis centres around England. These centres offer integrated endometriosis care catering for women with severe disease. Conditions for accreditation include:- A clinic specifically devoted to endometriosis patients;- A dedicated endometriosis specialist nurse; and- A support network of other clinicians, including urologists and pain management specialists.

Endometriosis

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of women living with endometriosis in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Jackie Doyle-Price: This information is not held centrally. Endometriosis UK estimates that endometriosis affects approximately 10% of women of reproductive age.

Drugs: Refrigerators

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer on 7 January 2019 to Question 203371 on Drugs: refrigerators, to which companies contracts were awarded; what the value was of each contract; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 7 January 2019 to Question 203371, what (a) medicines and (b) other medical products his Department plans to store in the additional refrigerated storage space.

Stephen Hammond: The Department will publish the names of successful contractors when the tender process is complete and all contracts have been signed. The Department recognises that through our ‘no deal’ European Union exit medicines and medical supply contingency programmes we are requesting sensitive commercial information from pharmaceutical and medical device suppliers. To reassure participating companies, we have committed to treating all information received confidentially, securely and to using it only for the purposes of the Department’s programme. That means not introducing information about specific companies or products into the public domain.

Pregnancy: Mental Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to pages 48 to 49 of the NHS Long Term Plan, how much funding has been allocated to fund the expansion in perinatal services.

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to pages 48 and 49 of the NHS Long Term Plan, how many extra staff will be required to work in the expanded perinatal services; and how these staff will be recruited.

Jackie Doyle-Price: NHS England’s Long Term Plan, published on 7 January, confirms that mental health will receive a growing share of the National Health Service budget, worth at least a further £2.3 billion a year in real terms by 2023/24. Within this increased budget for mental health, there is funding to expand perinatal services by 2023/24. More detail including on workforce will be refined in consultation with stakeholders prior to publication of the detailed implementation plan noted on page 10 of the Long Term Plan.

Pregnancy Tests

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the merits in the conclusions of the 2018 report by Professor Carl Heneghan on oral hormones pregnancy tests and the risks of congenital malformations; and if he will make a statement.

Jackie Doyle-Price: In line with the Government’s commitment to review any new evidence in relation to hormone pregnancy tests, the Commission on Human Medicines is convening a new expert group to conduct an independent scientific review of the publication by Professor Carl Heneghan. In addition, the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use is conducting a review of the paper at European Union level, at the request of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. Once this paper has been fully considered the findings will be made public.

Cabinet Office

Disclosure of Information

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with insurance providers on advising clients provided with legal advice funded by that insurer about when to pursue or decline a whistle blowing case.

Mr David Lidington: The insurance industry does not come under the remit of the Cabinet Office so no discussions have been held.

Civil Service: Nationality

Alison McGovern: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to change paragraph 1.20 of the civil service nationality rules guidance in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Mr David Lidington: There are currently no plans to change paragraph 1.20 of the Civil Service Nationality Rules guidance in the unlikely scenario that the UK leaves the EU without a deal. EEA nationals who are civil servants on exit day will be able to continue to be civil servants; and it will continue to be possible for the civil service to recruit EEA nationals.

Civil Service: Vacancies

Jo Stevens: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many vacant posts there are across the Civil Service.

Mr David Lidington: This information is not held centrally.

Older People

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number people in the UK over the age of 75 in the next ten years.

Chloe Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA Response
(PDF Document, 73 KB)

Elections: Campaigns

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department plans to undertake a review of the recommendations contained in the report by Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts entitled, Third Party Election Campaigning – Getting the Balance Right, published in March 2016.

Chloe Smith: The Government has no plans to legislate to amend the rules on third party campaigning in line with Lord Hodgson’s package of recommendations. However, we are continuing to consider his recommendation on digital imprints.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Facebook

Stella Creasy: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer to Question 201628, what postcodes have the adverts from the Facebook page road to brexit been targeted since 21 November 2017.

Chloe Smith: No adverts running on the Road to Brexit Facebook page have been targeted based on postcodes, therefore this information is not available.

Voting Rights: EU Nationals

Neil Coyle: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if the Government will take steps to ensure the voting rights of citizens of other EU member states in local elections under all possible scenarios after March 2019.

Chloe Smith: The issue of electoral voting rights is part of the wider issue of the rights of EU citizens and UK expats that need to be considered during the Brexit preparations. The rights of both sides should be taken together. The UK pushed hard in negotiations for reciprocal voting rights for EU citizens in the UK, and UK nationals in the EU, but they will not form part of the Withdrawal Agreement. The Government has made clear that we will seek to discuss this issue bilaterally with individual Member States with a view to protecting the rights of UK nationals resident in those Member States, where they will not otherwise continue.We do not anticipate any changes to the current UK primary legislative framework for candidacy and voting rights being made before the May 2019 English and Northern Ireland local elections. The Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly are responsible for their own franchises.To provide certainty to prospective candidates, it will be the policy intent of the UK Government that candidates who are validly nominated and elected at or before the May 2019 local elections in England and Northern Ireland should be able to serve that term of office in full, notwithstanding any wider changes to voting and candidacy rights in the future.

Pay: Norfolk

Clive Lewis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the number of people in each parliamentary constituency in Norfolk that are paid the (a) national minimum wage and (b) national living wage.

Chloe Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA Response
(PDF Document, 240.76 KB)

Crown Commercial Service: Amazon

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether any of the meetings between the Crown Commercial Service and Amazon Web Services prior to the awarding of the Government contract to Amazon Web Services to host the primary components of the Crown Marketplace were attended by Amazon Web Services employees who were civil servants or in an advisory role to the Government.

Oliver Dowden: No meetings were held with Amazon Web Services (AWS) outside of the formal contract award process. There was no consultation with, or involvement by AWS, regarding these requirements, nor are any AWS employees contracted to the Crown Commercial Service.The contract was awarded as a call-off from the CCS G-Cloud Commercial Agreement against CCS’ Technical Architecture requirements.The contract itself is for hosting alone and represents just 5% of the total investment cost of developing digital access to CCS’ products and services. No development work or support services are provided by AWS in relation to the services that are hosted.

Crown Commercial Service: Amazon

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether any other firms had bid to win the contract awarded to Amazon Web Services to host the primary components of the Crown Marketplace.

Oliver Dowden: This contract was a direct award under the G-Cloud 10 commercial agreement. As such, no suppliers ‘bid’ for this contract; an assessment of suppliers’ service offerings was made following a compliant search through the Digital Marketplace. A contract was awarded to the supplier whose services best fit CCS’ needs, in accordance with the G-Cloud guidance.

Crown Commercial Service: Amazon

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the implications of giving Amazon Web Services the role of hosting the Crown Marketplace on the ability of the parent company and subsidiaries of Amazon to win contracts on the Marketplace.

Oliver Dowden: The award of this contract does not afford Amazon Web Services (AWS) - or any parent or subsidiary company of AWS - any unfair advantage in any future commercial opportunity in relation to the Crown Marketplace, or any other Crown Commercial Service (CCS) commercial agreement.The build of the Crown Marketplace is agnostic to the hosting platform and can be "lifted and shifted" to other cloud platforms if necessary. The hosting of any service is in no way linked to either the development capabilities or future offerings that will be placed on the Crown Marketplace.

Infrastructure and Projects Authority

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will provide a list of projects (a) overseen by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority and (b) with Infrastructure and Projects Authority involvement that have had their delivery date delayed in the last 12 months .

Oliver Dowden: The Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) is a constantly evolving group of the most complex and strategically significant projects and programmes across government. In 2017/18, the GMPP included 133 projects and programmes, across 16 Departments and agencies.The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) publishes an Annual Report on the GMPP each year, alongside consolidated data and narratives, which include project end dates. Any changes to project end dates are reflected in subsequent annual reports.See the IPA 2017/18 Annual Report here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/infrastructure-and-projects-authority-annual-report-2018.See the IPA 2016/17 Annual Report here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/infrastructure-and-projects-authority-annual-report-2017

Civil Servants

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants were working on projects in the Major Projects Portfolio in (a) June 2016 and (b) December 2018.

Oliver Dowden: The Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) comprises the most complex and strategically significant projects and programmes across government. The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) supports the successful delivery of these projects through direct support, independent assurance reviews and by leading the project delivery profession across government.Data on the number of civil servants working on GMPP projects in individual government departments is not held centrally. However, the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff working at the IPA from 2016/17 is below:Financial Year2016/172017/182018/19Number of FTE148182177

Treasury

Duty Free Allowances

Steve Double: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether a return of duty free would see the return of allowances and see an end to personal duty paid goods coming in from the EU.

Mel Stride: The issues around duty-free are complex, with a range of possible approaches. The government is clear that tax is a sovereign matter and that it will be open to the UK government and Parliament to decide to change its policy in the future, subject to any negotiations with the EU. The Chancellor made clear at the Treasury Select Committee on 5 November that there are no plans at the moment to review the duty-free situation, when asked about the possible reintroduction of duty-free after March 2019.

Tax Avoidance

Faisal Rashid: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to implement an affordable repayment plan for people affected by the disguised remuneration loan charge.

Mel Stride: Disguised Remuneration (DR) schemes are contrived arrangements that pay loans in place of ordinary remuneration with the sole purpose of avoiding income tax and National Insurance contributions. HMRC is working hard to help individuals get out of tax avoidance for good and is encouraging anyone who is concerned about their ability to pay to contact them as soon as possible to discuss their options. In November 2017, HMRC set up a dedicated helpline for those wanting to settle their avoidance scheme use, and discuss payment options. HMRC will work with all individuals to reach a manageable and sustainable payment plan wherever possible. HMRC has also introduced a simplified process for those who choose to settle their use of DR avoidance schemes before the loan charge arises. Those earning less than £50,000 a year and who are no longer engaging in tax avoidance can agree a payment plan of up to five years without the need for detailed supporting information. There is no maximum period within which an overall settlement can be agreed, and HMRC will deal with individual cases appropriately and sympathetically.

Treasury: Brexit

Esther McVey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding from the public purse has been allocated to his Department for financial year 2018-19 for planning for the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and how much of that funding has been spent.

Robert Jenrick: HM Treasury has already allocated over £4.2 billion of additional funding to departments and the devolved administrations for EU exit preparations so far. This includes the £1.5 billion of additional funding HM Treasury announced at Autumn Budget 2017 for 2018/19, including £24.8m and £260m for the Chancellor’s HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs respectively, to enable them to prepare for EU Exit effectively in any scenario. A full breakdown of how this was allocated to departments can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS540, laid on the 13th March (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-03-13/HCWS540/) This money will be paid out in Supplementary Estimates 18/19 later this financial year. Expenditure on EU Exit preparation in 2018-19 will be detailed in departments Annual Report and Accounts in due course.

Treasury: Disclosure of Information

Sir Mike Penning: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many non-disclosure agreements his Department has entered into in each year since 2005.

Robert Jenrick: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Tax Avoidance

Neil Coyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department has taken to make people aware of the change in loan charges; how they have identified the number of people so affected; and how many people have been informed of the changes to date.

Mel Stride: Since November 2017, HMRC has been writing directly to individuals and employers who may be impacted by the loan charge. HMRC has written directly to over 40,000 users, identified through its compliance work, IT records and tax return data.In addition, it is actively encouraging disguised remuneration scheme users to come forward and settle through its regular contact with customers and has raised additional awareness through its series of Spotlight publications, tweets and webinars. In July 2018, an HMRC issue briefing on disguised remuneration charge on loans was published on GOV.UK. This provides additional information about the loan charge, links to the settlement terms and relevant Spotlights along with helpful information for those who may have difficulty paying what they owe.HMRC is working hard to help individuals get out of tax avoidance for good and is encouraging anyone who is concerned about their ability to pay to contact them as soon as possible to discuss their options. In November 2017, HMRC set up a dedicated helpline for those wanting to settle their avoidance scheme use, and discuss payment options. HMRC will work with all individuals to reach a manageable and sustainable payment plan wherever possible.

NHS: Tax Avoidance

Neil Coyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) current and (b) former (i) employees, (ii) contractors and (iii) agency workers that will be affected by changes to loan charge schemes; and what support the NHS is providing to those affected.

Mel Stride: The 2019 loan charge is targeted at artificial tax avoidance schemes where earnings were paid via a third party in the form of ‘loans’ which in reality were never repaid – ‘disguised remuneration’ (DR) schemes. The Government recognises that the charge on DR loans will have a significant impact on some people who have used DR schemes. The impact of the DR loan charge on these individuals was considered at Budget 2016, when the measure was first announced. ­HMRC consulted on the measure in August 2016. The latest tax information and impact note (TIIN) can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disguised-remuneration-further-update/disguised-remuneration-further-update.  The Government estimates that up to 50,000 individuals will be affected by the 2019 loan charge. The loan charge applies to all users of DR tax avoidance schemes. It does not single out a specific group or industry, such as contractors or doctors. HMRC data indicates that fewer than 3% of those affected work in medical services (doctors and nurses) and teaching. Further information can be found in the Government’s issue briefing at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-issue-briefing-disguised-remuneration-charge-on-loans/hmrc-issue-briefing-disguised-remuneration-charge-on-loans The Government does not have any data on support the NHS provides to those affected by the DR loan charge. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is working hard to help individuals get out of tax avoidance for good and is encouraging anyone who is concerned about their ability to pay to contact them as soon as possible to discuss their options. In November 2017, HMRC set up a dedicated helpline for those wanting to settle their avoidance scheme use, and discuss payment options. HMRC will work with all individuals to reach a manageable and sustainable payment plan wherever possible.

Business: Taxation

Philip Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2018 to Question 201211 on Business: Taxation, how many investigations into UK businesses HMRC has conducted since 2016-17.

Mel Stride: During 2016-17 HMRC opened around 575,000 civil enquiry interventions and around 1,000 criminal investigations into both individuals and businesses. During 2017-18 HMRC opened around 485,000 civil enquiry interventions and around 1,000 criminal investigations into both individuals and businesses. HMRC’s management information shows the total number of civil interventions and criminal investigations conducted for both individuals and businesses. It is not possible to extrapolate the level of information requested and to do so would incur disproportionate cost.

Tax Avoidance

Lyn Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many promoters of tax avoidance schemes have been fined for failures to inform their clients that registration under the Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Scheme legislation does not signify that a scheme has been approved by HMRC in each of the last five years.

Lyn Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many employers using tax avoidance schemes have faced (a) investigation and (b) sanction for failures to inform their employees that they are involved in a Disclosed Tax Avoidance Scheme that has not been approved by HMRC.

Mel Stride: HMRC does not approve tax avoidance schemes. Promoters are required to give scheme users the tax avoidance ‘Scheme Reference Number (SRN)’ issued by HMRC when an avoidance scheme is disclosed under the Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Scheme (DOTAS). For schemes disclosed since the end of March 2015, which involve employers and their employees, the employer is required to give the SRN to those employees. The forms that promoters and employers are required to use make it clear to the recipient that they are “involved in a Disclosed Tax Avoidance Scheme” and that the scheme is “not HMRC approved”. They also provide clear information to inform would‑be tax avoiders of the risks they face by using avoidance schemes. HMRC has no evidence to suggest that promoters and employers are not complying with these obligations.

Tax Avoidance

Lyn Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion people were (a) investigated and (b) prosecuted by HMRC for the (i) promotion and (ii) operation of marketed tax avoidance schemes in relation to activities involving disguised remuneration schemes.

Mel Stride: HMRC takes tackling promoters of avoidance schemes seriously. In recent years, HMRC has been investigating over 100 promoters and others involved in avoidance, including disguised remuneration arrangements. In the last year, HMRC has taken litigation action against 5 scheme promoters for failure to disclose under Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes (DOTAS) with others deciding to disclose to avoid litigation. Further cases will be litigated in the year ahead. HMRC has used its powers under the Promoters of Tax Avoidance Schemes (POTAS) legislation to challenge promoters and made three successful complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority about misleading advertising; two of which relate to disguised remuneration schemes. HMRC considers criminal investigation and makes referrals to prosecuting authorities, where appropriate. Since the formation of HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service on 1 April 2016 more than 15 individuals have been convicted for offences relating to arrangements which have been promoted and marketed as tax avoidance schemes and sentenced to over 95 years custodial with an additional 4 years suspended sentences being ordered, additional matters are the subject of ongoing enquiries.

Tax Avoidance

Lyn Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people have received a tax avoidance enabler penalty.

Mel Stride: The enablers penalty applies to those who have enabled newly implemented arrangements after 16 November 2017 which have later been defeated in the courts or by agreement. HMRC are currently challenging a number of arrangements, seeking to apply penalties at the earliest opportunity under this new legislation.

Royal Mint: Staff

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of (a) payroll and (b) non-payroll staff in the Royal Mint.

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) staff and (b) full-time equivalent staff are employed in (i) payroll and (ii) non-payroll roles in the Royal Mint.

Robert Jenrick: The current employees at The Royal Mint are:(a) (i) Payroll number of staff of 785(ii) Payroll full-time equivalent staff of 763 (b) (i) Non-payroll (agency) number of staff of 237(ii) Non-payroll (agency) full-time equivalent staff of 237 The Mint is a publicly-owned company and its staff costs are funded out of its own revenues. The most recent forecasts of staff costs including associated tax and pensions costs for the year ending 31 March 2019 are: Payroll costs of £36.7millionNon-payroll (agency) costs of £4.5million.

Treasury: Staff

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of (a) payroll and (b) non-payroll staff in his private office.

Robert Jenrick: The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s private office cost for payroll staff between April and November 2018 was £461,020. There was no cost for non-payroll staff.

Home Education: Taxation

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of refunding the tax contribution made to the education budget by parents who educate their children at home.

Elizabeth Truss: The obligation to pay taxes is a general one. In general, tax receipts go into the ‘Consolidated Fund’ and taxes are not earmarked to any particular purpose. I do appreciate that not all taxpayers make direct use of every service provided by the government, and that parents who choose to educate their children at home are one example of this. However, a similar argument for a tax refund could be made by anyone who does not use a publicly provided service, or some aspect of that service, including those who are not parents. Primary and secondary education is primarily funded through general taxation, irrespective of usage, and not through charging users.

BBC: Managed Service Companies

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his tax policies of the conclusions of the report entitled the BBC’s engagement with personal service companies, published by the National Audit Office in November 2018.

Mel Stride: The National Audit Office (NAO) report concerns one organisation’s use of personal service companies over the last two decades, concluding with its experience of implementing the April 2017 reform of the off-payroll working rules in the public sector. The report does not comment on the off-payroll working rules themselves. The off-payroll working rules ensure that individuals who work through their own personal service company, and would have been an employee had they provided their services directly, pay broadly the same tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) as other employees. The rules do not affect the genuinely self-employed.

Cryptocurrencies

Eddie Hughes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what (a) fiscal and (b) regulatory steps his Department is taking to (i) support UK and (ii) encourage overseas blockchain and crypto-based companies establish themselves in the UK.

John Glen: The Government has invested over £10 million through Innovate UK and the research councils to support a wide variety of DLT related projects. The Government has also created a £20 million GovTech Catalyst Fund to explore technology-based solutions for public sector challenges, potentially including the use of DLT. The Government set out its approach to cryptoassets and the underlying distributed ledger technology (DLT) in the report of the Cryptoassets Taskforce[1]. The Government wants to encourage responsible development of legitimate distributed ledger technology (DLT) and cryptoasset-related activity in the UK, while also mitigating risks. The financial regulators continue to provide a platform that facilitates innovation and the development of new technologies in the financial system. For example, the Financial Conduct Authority has accepted a significant number of DLT-based projects into its Regulatory Sandbox. The Bank of England has also committed to ensure that its new RTGS service will be compatible with DLT-based payment systems.[1] The full report of the HM Treasury/Financial Conduct Authority/Bank of England Cryptoassets Taskforce is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/752070/cryptoassets_taskforce_final_report_final_web.pdf

Sanitary Protection: VAT

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent progress has been made on abolishing VAT on sanitary products.

Mel Stride: The Government remains committed to applying a zero rate of Value Added Tax (VAT) to women’s sanitary products in the UK at the earliest opportunity. In January 2018, the European Commission brought forward a legislative proposal to enhance Member States’ flexibility to apply reduced and zero rates of VAT. This proposal remains under discussion in the EU and, if it is agreed by Member States, would give the UK the legal ability to zero rate women’s sanitary products. The Romanian Presidency has stated its intention to progress negotiations on this proposal during its current term.

Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments

Ruth George: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people claiming (a) working tax credits and (b) child tax credits have received overpayments in each year of the last 10 years.

Elizabeth Truss: Information on the number of claimants in receipt of Working Tax Credits and Child Tax Credits who have received overpayments in the last ten years are published in HMRCs Child and Working Tax Credits statistics: finalised annual awards, supplement on payments 2016-2017, published on 28th June 2018. Data for overpayments can be found within the “Main aggregate” tab in the publication tables. This publication can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-and-working-tax-credits-statistics-finalised-annual-awards-supplement-on-payments-2016-to-2017

Income Tax: Tax Rates and Bands

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people were placed in the higher tax threshold in each of the last 10 years.

Mel Stride: The estimated number of taxpayers liable for tax at the higher rate are published in the HMRC National Statistics table 2.1, available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/710887/Table_2.1.pdf  These estimates are based on the Survey of Personal Incomes (SPI) outturn data up to 2015-16. The 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 estimates are based upon the 2015-16 Survey of Personal Incomes projected using economic assumptions consistent with the OBR’s March 2018 economic and fiscal outlook.

Brexit

Priti Patel: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what measures are in place under the terms of the proposed UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement to ensure that the UK can (a) maintain, (b) oversee and (c) carry influence over those matters for which the UK could be held responsible for contingent liabilities after 29 March 2019.

Elizabeth Truss: We have reached a fair financial settlement with the EU, honouring commitments we made during our period of membership, and have ensured a fair deal for UK taxpayers. The Withdrawal Agreement gives the UK audit rights with respect to the implementation of the financial provisions of the withdrawal agreement, including, contingent liabilities. On the UK’s request, the EU will provide these auditors with information and assistance to allow them to assure the implementation of the financial settlement. The application of these rights will be a significant source of assurance for Parliament in respect of payments under the financial settlement.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Disclosure of Information

Sir Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many non-disclosure agreements his Department has entered into in each year since 2005.

Margot James: The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is not able to provide a response to cover the period from 2005 onwards as this information is generally not held centrally. In 2017, there were five non-disclosure agreements, all relating to recruitment of temporary staff. Non-disclosure agreements are put in place in exceptional circumstances. Non-disclosure agreements in DCMS are only used for temporary staff who will work on sensitive information, where commercially or politically sensitive.

Charities: Contracts

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of charities that are running a deficit on statutory contracts.

Mims Davies: We do not centrally hold data on government contracts with charities for statutory services. The viability of a particular contract is matter for the relevant government department. If organisations are concerned about a procurement process, we encourage them to refer to the Public Procurement Review Service, the details of which can be found on GOV.UK.

Third Sector

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department will publish the initial findings of its assessment of the effect on the civil society sector of the UK leaving the EU.

Mims Davies: Government is continuing to assess the effect of the UK leaving the EU on the civil society sector. We are gathering information on the challenges and opportunities exiting the EU presents, and we are sharing information with, and listening to the views of civil society organisations as this work progresses. We continue to work across government to champion the sector’s views during the EU exit process and beyond.

Broadband

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what information his Department holds on the amount BT has paid in direct capital contributions to local authorities in relation to each of its 44 BDUK-approved projects.

Margot James: BT contracted over £388 million to deliver Superfast broadband within the 44 BDUK approved phase one projects. A number of these contracts are still in delivery and expected to generate efficiency savings. The amount the supplier has to contribute will not diminish from the contracted value.

House of Commons Commission

Parliamentary Estate: Newspaper Press and Publications

Justin Madders: To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, on what commercial basis newspapers and other publications are distributed from stands in the parliamentary estate.

Tom Brake: The newspapers that are available in the library and reception areas across the parliamentary estate are purchased as part of a larger contract that is held jointly by the House of Commons and House of Lords. The contract was awarded following an open procurement carried out in 2015/16. It was awarded to Jones Yarrell Leadenhall (Menzies Distribution Plc) for an initial three year period with the option to extend for a further two years.

Parliamentary Estate: Alcoholic Drinks

Mr Charles Walker: To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, for what reasons the Commission has restricted the sale of alcohol in parliamentary cafeterias selling food; and how that policy is intended to promote responsible alcohol consumption.

Tom Brake: Holding answer received on 11 January 2019



The House of Commons Commission has agreed a number of actions to promote responsible alcohol consumption on the Parliamentary Estate. These include increasing the range of non-alcoholic drinks and lower strength beers available, training and supporting staff to refuse to serve customers when necessary, expanding and encouraging alcohol-free areas including all six House of Commons cafeterias (Bellamy's, Courtyard Café, Debate, Jubilee Café, Members' Tea Room, Terrace Cafeteria), discouraging Members and staff from drinking in offices after bars are shut, and not running promotional advertisements.

Parliamentary Estate: Access

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, what the timeframe is for the subway access to the Parliamentary estate from Westminster Bridge to be re-opened.

Tom Brake: Exit three from Westminster Tube station has been closed to ensure that works to conserve the Elizabeth Tower can continue safely. This work is expected to continue until 2021.Access onto Bridge Street remains feasible via alternative exits and direct access between the Parliamentary estate and the station precinct has been maintained.